“For the public good” : birth control access in Ontario, 1920-1940

Abstract

Despite a Criminal Code ban on the publication of birth control information, private clinics and companies were able to sell and provide birth control products to the public between the 1920s and 1940s. As these were the only avenues through which many Ontario women could access birth control, women were forced to rely on these organizations who often placed their private interests before the effectiveness or safety of the products they provided. This study explores the ways in which the Canadian government and medical establishment contributed to these conditions by refusing to engage in birth control debates or alter laws to protect the safety of women.