Without a Woman: Katharine McCormick and the Birth of the Pill

When the story of the birth control pill is told, names like Margaret Sanger and Dr. Gregory Pincus often take center stage. But behind the scientific breakthroughs and public advocacy was a single woman whose quiet determination and deep pockets made it all possible: Katharine Dexter McCormick.

In an era when even the mention of contraception was considered scandalous, McCormick’s funding and relentless pursuit of scientific progress helped launch one of the most revolutionary inventions in women’s health: the oral contraceptive pill.

Born in 1875 into a wealthy Chicago family, Katharine McCormick was anything but ordinary. At a time when women of her class were expected to pursue social refinement rather than scholarship, she chose science. Encouraged by her father, she earned a degree in biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1904, one of the few women in her era to do so.

Her education would later shape her belief in evidence-based solutions for women’s health and her conviction that science could empower women to take control of their own bodies.

McCormick’s early life followed the traditional path expected of women in high society: she married Stanley McCormick, heir to the International Harvester fortune. But the marriage quickly turned to tragedy. Stanley was diagnosed with schizophrenia only two years after their wedding and spent the rest of his life institutionalized.

Determined not to pass on what was then thought to be a hereditary illness, McCormick decided never to have children. Her experience with her husband’s illness and her frustration with the lack of understanding around mental health inspired her early philanthropy in psychiatric research. But her deeper calling lay ahead.

While managing her husband’s care, McCormick threw herself into activism. A devoted suffragist, she became a leading figure in the National American Woman Suffrage Association, helping to secure women the right to vote.

To McCormick, the fight for women’s rights didn’t end at the ballot box. She believed that true freedom meant bodily autonomy, and that included the right to decide if and when to have children. That belief connected her to Margaret Sanger, the fiery birth control advocate who was challenging America’s restrictive contraception laws in the early 20th century.

The two women met in 1917 and formed a bond. McCormick supported Sanger’s clinics, even smuggling diaphragms into the United States during the 1920s, when distributing contraceptives was illegal in most states.

For decades, McCormick’s ability to fund major research was tied up in legal battles over her husband’s estate. But when he passed away in 1947, she finally gained full control of her fortune and with it, the freedom to pursue her lifelong mission.

When Sanger shared her dream of a “simple, woman-controlled contraceptive”, McCormick immediately understood its significance. She was 75 years old, but determined to see it realized in her lifetime.

In 1953, Sanger introduced McCormick to Dr. Gregory Pincus, a biologist with the expertise to take on the challenge. That day, McCormick wrote him a check for $40,000, the first of many that would ultimately total more than $2 million.

At a time when universities, pharmaceutical companies, and the U.S. government refused to touch contraceptive research, Katharine McCormick almost single-handedly bankrolled the development of the birth control pill.

She relocated to Massachusetts to oversee progress, pushed scientists to move faster, and stayed closely involved until the Pill’s approval in 1960.

Yet when the world celebrated the medical milestone that transformed women’s lives, McCormick’s name was largely omitted. The scientists and doctors received acclaim, but the woman who made it all possible was quietly forgotten. When she died in 1967 at age 92, her passing didn’t even merit an obituary in major newspapers.

Today, historians recognize Katharine McCormick as one of the most important figures in the history of women’s rights. Her vision, funding, and tenacity made possible a breakthrough that gave millions of women control over their reproductive futures, their careers, and their independence.

The fight for women’s freedom has always relied on the courage of those willing to act and to fund change when no one else would. Because without Katharine McCormick, the Pill and the freedom it brought might never have existed.