In the developed countries the birthrate has gone down; in Germany it crashed. Here is my theory on that: when the Pill became available in Germany, sexually active women were very enthusiastic about it. West Germany was crowded; many people did not care for the task of bringing children up in a society that, while seemingly sentimental about children, actually was pretty hard on them and their mothers. Women wanted to work and not be Hausfraus all the time, and also they wanted to enjoy sex without fear of pregnancy. The men were even more enthusiastic about the Pill, because it freed them of responsibility for contraception.  The Jungeselle, or single young man, was always a cultural hero to the Germans, flitting from flower to flower, fertilizing as he went, but now he could flit about without making babies.  With the  married men  it was customary to have a younger woman on the side, and now they did not have to worry about getting the other woman pregnant. Avoiding pregnancy now became the woman's job, which the men liked very much. Abortion was still illegal.
The thinking among Catholics was that (they thought) since the Pill did not really destroy eggs, it was not a sin. My Catholic doctor, when I asked for a diaphragm, said he did not know how to fit them, and which kind of Pill did I want? And he said not to come back to him if I got pregnant.
I'm pretty sure that these are the factors that caused the birthrate to crash so dramatically,

Comments

[Kay Dennison]

My Catholic doctor gave me the pill -- he also decided that it wasn't a good idea after my stroke and may have caused the latter and insisted that I have a tubal ligation rather risk another stroke or pregnancy -- my kids needed their mommy.

[Hattie]

Yes, it was very dangerous at those high estrogen doses and caused a lot of embolisms and strokes. That's why I never took it, having been warned away by my OBGYN and a nurse. I don't think the current contraceptive pills formulations are so dangerous. I would not worry about taking the Pill now.