ABSTRACT
Since at least the nineteenth century, contraceptive use in the United States has sparked debates over the individual and social implications of separating sex from reproduction. The social meanings of contraception varied widely over time, ranging from obscene and immoral to necessary for sexual and social liberation. For some, contraception symbolized progress, agency, and sexual freedom. For others, contraception meant facing oppressive systems of reproductive constraint. Parsing out the different historical constellations that tied the meanings and consequences of using contraceptives to manage fertility reveals how issues of sex and reproduction in the United States have been shaped by relationships of power and ongoing tensions between an individual human right to reproductive autonomy and state efforts to manage sex and its consequences.
