Editing Gynaecology (section)

=== Puerto Rican Trials ===
Main Article: [[Contraceptive trials in Puerto Rico|Contraceptive Trials in Puerto Rico]] See Also: [[Gregory G. Pincus|Gregory Pincus]]

The birth control trails were initiated by [[Gregory G. Pincus|Gregory Pincus]], an American biochemist that contributed to the development of the first oral contraceptive pill.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Dr. Pincus, Developer of Birth-Control Pill, Dies |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/0409.html |access-date=2025-04-05 |website=archive.nytimes.com}}</ref> Clinical trials of these contraceptions took place in [[Puerto Rico]], commonwealth of the United States, with the rationale of a necessary population control that closely followed [[Eugenics|eugenic]] ideology.<ref name="sais.jhu.edu">{{Cite web |date=2022-02-10 |title=Lights and Shadows of US Birth Control Testing in Puerto Rico: History and Implications for Other Latin American Countries |url=https://sais.jhu.edu/news-press/event-recap/lights-and-shadows-us-birth-control-testing-puerto-rico-history-and |access-date=2025-04-05 |website=Johns Hopkins SAIS |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Blakemore">{{Cite web |last=Blakemore |first=Erin |date=2018-05-09 |title=The First Birth Control Pill Used Puerto Rican Women as Guinea Pigs |url=https://www.history.com/articles/birth-control-pill-history-puerto-rico-enovid |access-date=2025-04-05 |website=HISTORY |language=en}}</ref><ref name="pbs.org">{{Cite web |title=The Puerto Rico Pill Trials {{!}} American Experience {{!}} PBS |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/pill-puerto-rico-pill-trials/ |access-date=2025-04-05 |website=www.pbs.org |language=en}}</ref> The place of the trials was also facilitated by Puerto Rico’s ambiguous political relationship to the United States.<ref name="sais.jhu.edu"/> Furthermore, Puerto Rican women were already practicing other forms of [[birth control]], thus Pincus established these trials to expand accessible contraceptives and develop an oral pill.<ref name="pbs.org"/> Trials began in [[Río Piedras, Puerto Rico|Rio Piedras]] in 1956, and women were offered the pill, developed and named Envoid in 1960, on the basis that it prevented pregnancy without knowing the pills were unapproved by the [[Food and Drug Administration]] (FDA) in the United States.<ref name="pbs.org"/> Dr. [[Edris Rice-Wray Carson|Edris Rice-Wray]], a professor at the Puerto Rico Medical School was aware and vocal of the negative side effects of the pill.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal |last=Lenharo |first=Mariana |date=2024-04-24 |title=Las Borinqueñas remembers the forgotten Puerto Rican women who tested the first pill |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-01175-5 |journal=Nature |language=en |volume=629 |issue=8010 |pages=32–33 |doi=10.1038/d41586-024-01175-5|pmid=38658720 |bibcode=2024Natur.629...32L }}</ref> However, the side effects were dismissed without further testing on the safety of the contraceptive.<ref name=":3" />

Today, this event still affects many Puerto Rican women with reproductive health complications and permanent sterilization as a consequence of the trials.<ref name="Blakemore"/> Although these trials do not follow modern medical ethic practices, these trials spearheaded the development of the first oral contraceptive and currently propel the establishment of equity rubrics and further medical ethics research in the field of gynecology.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Batman |first1=Samantha |last2=Rivlin |first2=Katherine |last3=Robinson |first3=Whitney |last4=Brown |first4=Oluwateniola |last5=Carter |first5=Ebony B. |last6=Lindo |first6=Edwin |date=2023-10-01 |title=A Rubric to Center Equity in Obstetrics and Gynecology Research |journal=Obstetrics and Gynecology |volume=142 |issue=4 |pages=772–778 |doi=10.1097/AOG.0000000000005336 |issn=1873-233X |pmc=10510789 |pmid=37678908}}</ref> The women affected by these trials have been outspoken about their experiences with forced sterilization and birth control trials through a variety of medias, such as interviews, books, and documentaries like [[La Operación]] by [[Ana María García|Ana Maria Garcia.]]