Enquêter sur l’efficacité contraceptive pour normaliser le contrôle des naissances

Though discussing birth-control had been forbidden in France since the 1920 promulgation of a law, Doctor Lagroua Weil-Hallé undertook in 1957 long-range work on medical inquiries into the consequences of contraceptive practices. Three consecutive publications released the results of these investigations. They were designed as the centerpiece of an All-Out Assault in order to have the law abolished. This scientific production imposed the topic of contraception in the circles of traditionally hostile experts, the medical and demographic spheres. The way the questionnaires have been devised and the mathematical processing of the results tend to over-value a particular contraceptive method: the diaphragm. Light is mainly thrown on the positive consequences of contraception on mental health, namely women’s sexual fulfillment, the prevention of unwanted pregnancy, harmonious relationships between parents and within the family.