Morning After

HEATHER MUNRO PRESCOTT is a professor of history at Central Connecticut State University. She is the author of Student Bodies: The Impact of Student Health on American Society and Medicine and the award-winning A Doctor of Their Own: The History of Adolescent Medicine.

"Prescott provides an engrossing and many-angled account of the origins and development of emergency contraception in the United States through to 2010."(Bulletin of the History of Medicine) "Prescott offers an incisive history of one of the newest forms of birth control, one that could reduce the need for abortion while guaranteeing women's control--because we all make mistakes." - Linda Gordon (Florence Kelley Professor of History, New York University) "The Morning After is a richly detailed history of the development of one of the least known or understood forms of birth control, emergency contraception. Highly recommended."(Choice) "The Morning After tells the dramatic story of the decades-long effort to achieve effective and accessible emergency contraception, and demonstrates the power of feminist activism to gain  women’s reproductive rights." - Elaine Tyler May (America and the Pill: A History of Promise, Peril and Liberation) "Heather Munro Prescott's timely book offers insight into the scientific, historical, and political contexts of [reproductive] policy decisions. This is a complex story to tell in a slim volume, and yet it offers an enticing first attempt at both adding this chapter to the history of reproductive rights and broadening the scope of such research to include science and public policy."(Journal of American History) "Heather Munro Prescott has written an important and timely book that fills a significant gap in the literature on contraception and significantly deepens our knowledge of reproductive medicine." - Rebecca M. Kluchin (author of Fit to be Tied) "The Morning After sheds light on how contraceptive technologies bring together diverse groups working to improve women’s reproductive health (Studies in Family Planning) "Munro Prescott’s analysis of how emergency contraception fits into the American healthcare matrix is insightful and incisive, providing a new perspective on the social, philosophical, and medical history of contraceptives in American society." (Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences) "Prescott provides an engrossing and many-angled account of the origins and development of emergency contraception in the United States through to 2010."(Bulletin of the History of Medicine) "Prescott offers an incisive history of one of the newest forms of birth control, one that could reduce the need for abortion while guaranteeing women's control--because we all make mistakes." - Linda Gordon (Florence Kelley Professor of History, New York University) "The Morning After is a richly detailed history of the development of one of the least known or understood forms of birth control, emergency contraception. Highly recommended."(Choice) "The Morning After tells the dramatic story of the decades-long effort to achieve effective and accessible emergency contraception, and demonstrates the power of feminist activism to gain  women’s reproductive rights." - Elaine Tyler May (America and the Pill: A History of Promise, Peril and Liberation) "Heather Munro Prescott's timely book offers insight into the scientific, historical, and political contexts of [reproductive] policy decisions. This is a complex story to tell in a slim volume, and yet it offers an enticing first attempt at both adding this chapter to the history of reproductive rights and broadening the scope of such research to include science and public policy."(Journal of American History) "Heather Munro Prescott has written an important and timely book that fills a significant gap in the literature on contraception and significantly deepens our knowledge of reproductive medicine." - Rebecca M. Kluchin (author of Fit to be Tied) "The Morning After sheds light on how contraceptive technologies bring together diverse groups working to improve women’s reproductive health (Studies in Family Planning) "Munro Prescott’s analysis of how emergency contraception fits into the American healthcare matrix is insightful and incisive, providing a new perspective on the social, philosophical, and medical history of contraceptives in American society." (Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences)

• AcknowledgmentsList of AbbreviationsIntroduction1. A Second Revolution in Birth Control2. Courageous Volunteers3. Feminist Health Activism and the Feds4. Balancing Safety and Choice5. Building Consensus6. Mainstreaming Emergency Contraception7. From Paternalism to Patient EmpowermentConclusionNotesIndex