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Research ArticleArticles

Controlling the Uterus

A History of Labor Augmentation Drugs in Childbirth, 1900–1970

Naomi Rendina
History of Pharmacy and Pharmaceuticals, January 2022, 64 (2) 133-153; DOI: https://doi.org/10.3368/hopp.64.2.133
Naomi Rendina
Independent scholar. She holds a PhD in history from Case Western Reserve University; .
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Abstract:

Eliminating and easing pain in childbirth has long been considered a major obstetric achievement. But what about the ability to control the uterus and when childbirth happens? Why have augmentation and induction drugs not been central to historical analysis of medicalization of childbirth in the United States? Our understanding of how birth became medicalized is complicated when augmentation drugs are the central analytical lens. At the turn of the twentieth century, the emerging field of endocrinology and hormone-based therapies influenced the growing authority and professionalization of medicine and introduced the chemical manipulation of childbirth. This article explores two main points: first, the development of chemical interventions, like ergot and oxytocin, used to start and hasten labor; and second, how different drug categories pushed the boundaries of what was and was not “natural.” These drugs were valuable tools that helped solve public health concerns of maternal and fetal health outcomes, further entrenched women’s reliance on male physicians, and illustrate the complexities of how childbirth became a medical event in the United States.

Keywords:
  • oxytocin
  • Pitocin
  • childbirth
  • natural
  • ergot
  • © 2022 by the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System
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History of Pharmacy and Pharmaceuticals: 64 (2)
History of Pharmacy and Pharmaceuticals
Vol. 64, Issue 2
1 Jan 2022
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Controlling the Uterus
Naomi Rendina
History of Pharmacy and Pharmaceuticals Jan 2022, 64 (2) 133-153; DOI: 10.3368/hopp.64.2.133

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Controlling the Uterus
Naomi Rendina
History of Pharmacy and Pharmaceuticals Jan 2022, 64 (2) 133-153; DOI: 10.3368/hopp.64.2.133
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  • Article
    • Abstract:
    • The Birth of Reproductive Endocrinology
    • Swift Birth
    • Birth of a New Drug
    • Pitocin in the Trade Catalogs
    • Synthesis of Oxytocin
    • Not So Fast! Oxytocin Research and Conclusions
    • Acknowledgements
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  • Afterword
  • An Empire of Materia Medica at the Late Medici Court
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Keywords

  • oxytocin
  • Pitocin
  • childbirth
  • natural
  • ergot
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