54 years of the Pill on the NHS, and how Birmingham women got it first | Vanessa Heggie
54 years ago today Enoch Powell confirmed that 'the pill' could be prescribed on the NHS. Vanessa Heggie explains how the first British trial of the contraceptive pill, in 1960, led to nearly a third of participants becoming pregnant.
It's not the speech we remember Enoch Powell for, but on 4th Dec 1961, in his role as Minister for Health, he confirmed in the House of Commons that 'birth control pills' could be prescribed on the NHS. This was in response to a rather pointed question from fellow Tory, Nicholas Ridley about the cost of the pills; at the going rate of 17 shillings a month, that meant a subsidy from the NHS of at least 15 shillings per prescription (about 15 in today's money) and Ridley thought Powell should try to restrict access to the drug. Powell refused to lay down any rules about the prescribing of the Pill - aside, of course, from making it available only to married women.
