How did women avoid pregnancy before the pill?

[ericcartman]

How come most families weren't the size of football teams back then? I mean bar any fertility issues or couples stopping having sex what else was there? I know condoms and abortions have been around for ages in one form or another but I doubt either was that common till the 20th century, especially when talking about married couples.

I’m in my mid 40s, and don’t really get on with hormonal contraception. I was on the pill once, for 2 years over 20 years ago. Apart from that I have managed only to get pregnant apart from when I wanted to. On those occassionally we conceived on the first cycle, so no underlying fertility issues. It is possible not to get pregnant when not on the pill/implant!

But some women didn't even understand pregnancy or how it happened - not everyone of course, and there'd have been communities where knowledge was shared much more; but there were stories on here on a fairly recent thread about people's grandmas who talked about almost no education or understanding about their cycles or bodies or lengths of pregnancies or how they even really happened.

In much older days they also didn't have calendars or clocks around the place to measure the days, so you can't assume that every woman knew how to time things effectively (even if the man agreed).

It's a lot easier now, but even in these days I wasn't alone after my education in thinking you could get pregnant at any time during your cycle - only really found out more when TTC.

Causing abortions was really really common.

Your logic doesn't follow. People have always written a lot about abortions and what might cause them (and not just in fiction ...). Doesn't mean those things worked very effectively, and I really don't think they did. If you read a lot of these old remedies, they are '...and if that doesn't work, then ...' with the assumption you'd try multiple things and none of them might work.

The bottom line is it is quite hard to dislodge a healthy pregnancy without doing serious damage to, or killing, the mother.

I do think this matters. It's not as if, before abortion was legalised, there were loads of nice easy herbal methods and people commonly used them with success. It was much nastier than that.

My granny was one of 14 children who survived birth, several stillborn siblings too. Six girls and eight boys in a two room house. Five of the girls died (at ages 3, 4, 15, 16 and 22 respectively), 2 boys died (at 12 and 13). Interestingly, the rest predominantly made v old bones, 3 were over 100. In her generation, this mortality rate this was pretty normal.

My great aunt Esther was born in 1878, married in 1899, first baby in 1900, second in 1901, she then died 2 months later. Her husband remarried in 1902, the same month his second born died. His second wife delivered 7 babies between 1902 and 1912, none lived past 4 months. In 1917, his only surviving child was killed in WW1. I cannot begin to imagine how bloody miserable life was.

Not exactly on topic, but so far as nutrition goes, I remember reading a few years ago about a tribe of women who were only fertile during the time of the year when their main food supply was harvested. All babies in the tribe were conceived during that time.

So I’d say in years gone by poor nutrition and access to food helped limit fertility and birth rates.

zzzzz a couple would have to have 4 children to double the population, not 2. Then the 4 children would partner with 4 others and need to have 4 children each again for the population to double again

Back street abortions.
Or knitting needles.
This in the 1950s, due to poverty, ignorance and shame.
Maybe watch the film “Vera Drake”.

They did have football team sized families. My Grandad was one of eight, and my grandmother one of seven.

I agree that it sounds like you have an agenda, OP.

Don’t forget that Africa also has higher death rates from things that have yet to have much of an impact in the Western World, like Ebola.

Marie Stopes waged a massive campaign in the 1920s for women to have access to contraception, with considerable success. The diaphragm in particular was a massive game changer for women as they finally has some control themselves over their fertility rather than having to rely on the man to use a condom/pull out. (Officially it was only available to married women, but of course unmarried women got hold of them too.)

Marie Stopes' books, especially the v controversial Married Love, also massively increased understanding of how fertility worked.

My great grandmother (born in 1870s) only had two children and went through menopause at 36 - probably a blessing for her.

Well before legal abortion the biggest cause of maternal death was back street abortions.

There was diaphragms and condoms, pull out.

I cant see many working class women knowing about fertile periods, I've watched show where they didn't know how the baby would come out with their first child. Sex ed doesn't seem to have been that great.

My 81yo dads sex ed was "don't bring shame on the family". It's not exactly a detailed explanation.

OP I think the title isn't really your question?

I think you're wondering how the population has gotten so out of control despite contraception. I too wonder the same thing.

My parents used condoms in the 50s. So that explains Germany post war to 1960s. Prior to ww2 they did have big families, my grandad was one of 8. People in the uk and Ireland often didn't get married till their 30s so that decreases child bearing years.

The main factor in declining fertility is female education isn't it? Which leads to empowerment, being able to refuse sex, knowing about condoms, withdrawal and natural methods, more money and access to contraception, delaying sex or marriage while studying.

Historically, the seeds of Queen Anne's Lace were used as far back as Dioscorides. Even before that, extracts were made from silphium that were supposedly very effective. More recently, sponges soaked in vinegar, tansy or wine were used.

A lot of the traditional knowledge surrounding contraception has been lost, partly because of the teachings of the Christian church and all the "witch" hunts of years gone by.

For anyone interested in population, what is likely to happen in the future and what causes fertility rates( babies per woman) to drop look up Hans Rosling.

He has done several ted talks and documentaries, presents info in and interesting and clear way.

Basically comes down to as infant mortality drops, so does the birth rate.

Africa is 54, very different countries. Each has its own dynamics. Impossible to generalise across the whole continent.

Historically, the seeds of Queen Anne's Lace were used as far back as Dioscorides. Even before that, extracts were made from silphium that were supposedly very effective. More recently, sponges soaked in vinegar, tansy or wine were used.

A lot of the traditional knowledge surrounding contraception has been lost, partly because of the teachings of the Christian church and all the "witch" hunts of years gone by.

It might be true that traditional knowledge of contraception has been lost, but we can't know! What survives - evidence of things like sponges soaked in vinegar - very often come from sources that are the Christian church. Clerics write about these things; so do medics educated by the church.

I read an article on infanticide as a method of population control, they reckoned the levels were fairly consistent around the world if you go back to very early civilisations.

The early explorers of Australia commented it was unusual to see aboriginal children, so that's only a couple of hundred years back.

This has been an informative thread.

Wrt “how the population has gotten so out of control despite contraception.”

That’s all been answered on the thread. Better healthcare, ignorance about fertility, more food, widespread rape, lack of contraceptive availability, religion prohibiting contraception/promoting large families.

I have to say, I find the references to “football teams” distasteful.

My ex's granny was born in a remote hill tribe in Africa. She was married at thirteen and had four kids by the time she was seventeen, then no more after that. I wish I'd dared asked her how she managed to stop.

Breastfeeding with poor nutrition helped a little in spacing pregnancies too. But my nan was 1 of 15 and my grandfather 1 of 14. They had siblings die of malnutrition. My nan had 6 live births and late 7 miscarriages - nutrition played a part in that I believe.

My dad’s parents both came from football team sized families, even 100 years ago only one of the children didn’t make it to adulthood. On my mother’s side, both her grandfathers died relatively young from illnesses so not so many siblings there. What a life it must have been for women then. :(

@ericcartman

You're rude and clearly have some sort of agenda though for the life of me I can't figure it out. Also rude.

Absolutely, LRD, but there are some historical writings from the likes of Pliny as well, that talk about this sort thing from an ancient perspective. A lot of the early writings were concerned with the morality of bringing on menses and the idea of causing abortion.