Amid all the furor about abortion and abortion laws, it seems relevant to discuss an often overlooked and relatively safe, long-term option to avoid the issue altogether. The intrauterine device (IUD) is a simple device that’s placed into the uterus (womb) to prevent pregnancy.
There’s no evidence of human use of an IUD before the 20th century. However, there are reports of ancient Middle East traders placing pebbles into the uteri of Camels to prevent them from getting pregnant during long treks across the desert.
The documented first human use of an IUD was in 1909, when Dr. Richard Richter described inserting a ring of silkworm gut into a woman’s uterus to prevent pregnancy. In the mid-1920s, Drs. Karl Prust and Ernest Gräfenberg both developed similar devices. The latter wasn’t terribly effective, according to the Museum of Contraception….