The fraction of U.S. college graduate women entering professional programs increased substantially around 1970 and the age at first marriage among all U.S. college graduate women soared just after 1972. We explore the relationship between these two changes and how each was shaped by the diffusion of the birth control pill among young, single college educated women. Although the pill' was approved in 1960 by the FDA and diffused rapidly among married women, it did not diffuse among young single women until the late 1960s when a series of state law changes reduced the age of majority and extended mature minor decisions. We model the impact of the pill on women's careers as consisting of two effects. The pill had a direct positive effect on women's career investment by almost eliminating the chance of becoming pregnant and thus the cost of having sex. The pill also created a social multiplier effect by encouraging the delay of marriage generally and thus increasing a career woman's likelihood of finding an appropriate mate after professional school. We present a collage of evidence pointing to the power of the pill in lowering the costs of long-duration professional education for women. The evidence consists of the striking coincidences in the timing of changes in career investment, marriage age, state laws, and pill use among young single women. The connection between changes in the age at first marriage and the pill is further explored using state variation in laws affecting young single women's pill access. We also evaluate alternative explanations for the changes in career and marriage.

The Power of the Pill: Oral Contraceptives and Women's Career and Marriage Decisions

The fraction of U.S. college graduate women entering professional programs increased substantially just after 1970, and the age at first marriage among all U.S. college graduate women began to soar around the same year. We explore the relationship between these two changes and the diffusion of the birth control pill (“the pill”) among young, unmarried college graduate women. Although the pill was approved in 1960 by the Food and Drug Administration and spread rapidly among married women, it did not diffuse among young, single women until the late 1960s after state law changes reduced the age of majority and extended “mature minor” decisions. We present both descriptive time series and formal econometric evidence that exploit cross-state and cross-cohort variation in pill availability to young, unmarried women, establishing the “power of the pill” in lowering the costs of long-duration professional education for women and raising the age at first marriage.

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The Power of the Pill: Oral Contraceptives and Women’s Career and Marriage Decisions

The release of Enovid in 1960, the first birth control pill, afforded U. S. women unprecedented freedom to plan childbearing and their careers. This paper uses plausibly exogenous variation in state consent laws to evaluate the causal impact of the pill on the timing of first births and extent and intensity of women's labor-force participation. The results suggest that legal access to the pill before age 21 significantly reduced the likelihood of a first birth before age 22, increased the number of women in the paid labor force, and raised the number of annual hours worked.

/pdf/more-power-to-the-pill-the-impact-of-contraceptive-freedom-4xwh4090ic.pdf

More Power to the Pill: The Impact of Contraceptive Freedom on Women's Life Cycle Labor Supply

Data gathered in 2 nationwide surveys made in 1971 and 1976 provide information on recent changes in the prevalence of sexual experience and in contraceptive use among unmarried women aged 15 to 19. A national probability sample of women aged 15 to 19 of all marital statuses and races was used to draw a group of unmarried women of all races for study. The 1971 and 1976 studies differ in that the 1st study used self-administered questionnaires and interviews while the 2nd used only interviews to gather information. Questions concerning the prevalence of premarital intercourse knowledge of the period of greatest risk for intercourse to result in pregnancy sex education the geography of sex frequency of intercourse the male partner initiation of sex contraceptive prevalence methods of contraception 1st use of contraceptives 1st method of contraception and sources of contraception were asked. The validity of the estimates gleaned from the study is discussed. Findings are discussed in detail: in general these surveys indicate that the prevalence of sexual intercourse is on the rise among young unmarried women in the United States the sexually active are using contraception that is more effective and they are using these methods with greater regularity.

Sexual and contraceptive experience of young unmarried women in the United States, 1976 and 1971.

Medical and nonmedical studies of teenage pregnancy and its outcomes are reviewed, and the state of our current knowledge is assessed. It is suggested that, while the typical teenage girl is biologically ready for motherhood, a complex set of social and psychological variables leads those least well-suited for the role into becoming teenage parents. The effectiveness of special programs for pregnant adolescents and their offspring is examined, and implications for policy and prevention are offered.

TEENAGE PREGNANCY AND MOTHERHOOD: A Review of the Literature

Pregnancy, teenagers and the law, 1976.

\n In the last few years most states have reduced the age of majority from 21 to 18. In 1974, the right of an unmarried 18-year-old girl to consent for all areas of her own medical care, including birth control, has been recognized by 45 states and the District of Columbia. In 48 states and the District, 18-year-old unmarried girls may consent for most pregnancy-related health services and for abortion. No state forbids venereal disease treatment to unmarried 18-year-olds on their own consent. Teen-agers under 18 are still subject to the restriction of parental consent in many health-related areas, but the trend seems to be toward liberalization even in this area under the \"mature minor doctrine.\" No doctor has been held liable for providing any health service to a minor over 15.\n

Pregnancy, teenagers and the law, 1974.

Birth Control, Teen-Agers and the Law: A New Look, 1971

Birth Control, Teenagers and the Law

Since January 1976, when we last reviewed state laws and policies affecting the right of teenagers to consent for their own birth control and other reproductive health care, 1 the U.S. Supreme Court has in effect issued at least a partial bill of reproductive rights for minors. In three landmark cases-two involving abortion and one dealing with contraception-the Court has laid down a federal constitutional framework with which all future laws and regulations must comply. In so doing, the Court has rendered obsolete many of the laws we previously described that had restricted access of young people to fertility control services, and has clarified the rest. Thus, out of the old patchwork of statutes, case law, attorneys generals' opinions and administrative rulings there is finally emerging a coherent body of law based on two fundamental principles: * the constitutional right of mature minors to obtain reproductive health services on their own consent, and * the constitutional right of all minors to have an alternative to parental involvement in implementing their decisions about such health care. By 1976, liberalization of state laws and reduction of the age of majority had established the right of unmarried women aged 18 or older to consent for most aspects of their own medical care in at least 45 states and the District of Columbia. In 48 states and the District, they could consent for most pregnancy-related health services, including abortion. In a number of states, however, minors still encountered obstacles to obtaining contraceptive services or terminating unwanted pregnancies without the consent of their parents. Mature minors have the right to consent to their own reproductive health care; and all minors must be given an alternative to parental involvement in decisions about such care.

Harriet F. Pilpel

Papers

Pregnancy, teenagers and the law, 1976.

Pregnancy, teenagers and the law, 1974.

Birth Control, Teen-Agers and the Law: A New Look, 1971

Birth Control, Teenagers and the Law

Teenagers and pregnancy: the law in 1979.