“If Your Girlfriend Gets Pregnant, So Do You!”: 13 Amazing Vintage Contraceptive Ads

Test Ticker

Please support Mother Jones with a year-end donation. The truth is, we're a long way from our $600,000 goal, and we have to get as close as we can by Tuesday so we don't have to make hard decisions come January. If you value our reporting, please consider pitching in today.

$600,000

We still need to raise 400,000: Whether you can give $5 or $500, it all matters.

Please support Mother Jones with a year-end donation. We need to raise $600,000, or get as close as we can, by Tuesday so we don't need to make hard decisions come January. Whether you can give $5 or $500, it all makes a difference.

Just a few months ago, a Michigan state representative was banned from speaking on her own legislature’s floor after saying “vagina.” In Virginia, a squeamish lawmaker simply called it “V.” This year, several states also enacted laws mandating that abstinence be stressed in sex education classes, bringing to 26 the total number of states with such policies. Meanwhile, Todd “legitimate rape” Akin schooled us in medieval biology. ‘Nuff said.

Somehow, we’ve arrived at a place where euphemisms are preferable, ignorance is tolerated, and politicians are seeking to turn back the clock on a woman’s right to dictate the terms of her personal and professional future.

So, in recognition of World Contraception Day, we put together this slideshow. Pulled from archives at the National Institutes of Health, these vintage contraception ads from around the globe date back as far as 1969. They tell it like it is—with humor, a few tacky hairdos, and a bluntness that will surely please anyone who’s tired of the talk-arounds.

1986, London Family Planning Association National Library of Medicine

1980, Family Planning Association of Queensland National Library of Medicine

1991, Gambia Family Planning Association National Library of Medicine

“Careful! Don’t take a step without your sandal. When it’s time to decide, you have a lot to choose from.” 1995, Fundación Mexicana para la Planeación Familiar (MEXFAM) National Library of Medicine