The subject of human reproduction led to much controversy during the 19th century. The century witnessed a significant decline in the birthrate, which is explained by a variety of birth control practices. Physicians, churches, and governments generally opposed the circulation of birth control information and the use of contraceptives, however; they considered them immoral and made them illegal in most places.

The search for a reliable means of birth control is as old as human records, and discussions of it are found in pre-Christian records. The early church opposed contraception and medieval canon law forbade it, but ideas about avoiding pregnancy nonetheless circulated in popular culture. The population explosion that began in the late 18th century persuaded 19th century reformers to circulate birth control information. These neo-Malthusians proposed a variety of (semireliable) means of contraception: the insertion of a barrier (such as a sponge) as a rudimentary form of the diaphragm; the use of simple chemical douches (such as vinegar), as a rudimentary spermicide; and the practice of male withdrawal before ejaculation, modestly described by the Latin term coitus interruptus. Condoms made from animal membranes had been tried for centuries, and a reusable condom of vulcanized rubber (hence its nickname) was clandestinely marketed in the 1870s, although the modern, thinner condom made of latex was not invented until after World War I.

Such methods of contraception--plus abortion, infanticide, and abandonment--were first used on a scale large enough to check population growth in France. The French birthrate in 1810 was 317 births per ten thousand population, 15 percent lower than the rate in Britain (375 per ten thousand); the rate in the German states was even higher (395 per ten thousand). The difference between the French and the Anglo-German birthrates widened during the 19th century, even when the British birthrate started falling. By 1910 the French birthrate (202 per ten thousand) was 26 percent below the British rate (272 per ten thousand) and 32 percent below the German rate (298 per ten thousand). By the early twentieth century, the French had reached zero population growth (a balance between births and deaths), despite the opposition of leaders who foresaw the depopulation of France. This trend, combined with other demographic data, leaves no doubt that the French were practicing birth control on a significant scale.

British radicals tried to spread such information. Richard Carlile, a tinsmith and printer, published a manual in 1838, entitled Every Woman's Book, advocating the use of a sponge barrier. It and an American manual, Fruits of Philosophy (1832), which advocated a vinegar douche, were censored, and some booksellers were imprisoned, but their ideas circulated. In 1877 Annie Besant, a preacher's wife and campaigner for unpopular causes, and Charles Bradlaugh, a social reformer, defied the courts and sold 125,000 copies of these reprinted works. Besant summarized the various methods of birth control in The Law of Population (1877), which conservatives branded as "a dirty, filthy book . . . that no human would allow on his table . . . and no decently educated English husband would allow even his wife to have". Besant was sentenced to six months in prison, but the verdict was overturned on a technicality.

Similar controversies developed in many countries. Dr. Alleta Jacobs, the first woman physician in the Netherlands, opened the world's first birth control clinic in Amsterdam in 1882, despite great opposition from the medical profession. In other countries, radical feminists, such as Dr. Madeleine Pelletier in France, made the control of reproduction an essential element of women's rights. Pelletier even published one of the first works claiming the right to abortion. By the end of the century, information about both birth control and abortion circulated widely. A study of Spain has found significant use of contraception in the cities, especially in Catalonia. A study of a Berlin working-class clinic in 1913 found that 64 percent of the women used birth control. . . .

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