The birth of the pill

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Women's rights activist Margaret Sanger opened the first birth control clinic in the United States in 1916, but she had always dreamed of a better form of contraception than diaphragms or condoms - one that women could control and administer independently. Elaine Tyler May and Ellen Chesler tell Bridget Kendall how Sanger and her allies helped launch the pill. (Picture: A woman taking a contraceptive pill from a blister pack. Credit: Getty Images)