 | The Fertility Doctor Subjects: Reproductive Techniques Assisted; Reproductive Medicine; History 20th Century; Contraceptive Agents; Physicians; Reproductive health; Infertility; Human reproductive technology; Oral contraceptives; Oral contraceptives; Gynecologists; Drawing on John Rock's (1890-1984) personal papers, Marsh and Ronner (coauthors of Empty Cradle), trace Rock's groundbreaking research on human fertility. As an obstetrician and gynecologist in Boston, Rock had become sympathetic to the opposing plights of weary mothers who wanted no more pregnancies and infertile women desperate to conceive. In 1938 he teamed with two other researchers, Miriam Menkin and Arthur Hertig, to understand fertilization and embryo implantation by examining the uteruses of women who underwent hysterectomies. This research led in the late 1950s to the birth control pill. A second research project led in 1944 to the first fertilization of human eggs outside the womb. Although a practicing Catholic, Rock defied both the Church and the state of Massachusetts, home to a harsh anti-abortion law and little tolerance for birth control. His 1963 pro-birth control book, The Time Has Come, challenged the Church, but was praised by many liberal Catholic priests. The authors bring a man and a century to life as they recount two primary discoveries underlying women's still controversial reproductive rights. 20 b&w photos.(Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved Margaret Marsh is a professor of history and interim chancellor, Rutgers University-Camden. Wanda Ronner is a clinical associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. They are coauthors of The Empty Cradle: Infertility in America from Colonial Times to the Present , also published by Johns Hopkins. |
