the first home pregnancy test became available in the united states in 1971.
the first home pregnancy test became available in the united states in 1971.
when did the first home pregnancy test become available in the united states?
1971
she took matters into her own hands and went to her home in new york to begin working on her prototype. she combined a paper clip holder, a test tube, a mirror, and a dropper. she put her invention together and presented it to organon but the idea was at first rejected, but they applied for patents in her name in 1969. when crane presented her idea, it was met with major pushback. crane's proposition made the lab hesitant due to worries that the lab would lose business to doctors if women started performing these tests at home. organon eventually decided to do a test market of the product and margaret crane's design was chosen. organon hired a new york ad agency to do the marketing, and ira sturtevant was to head the account. he took a particular interest in margret crane's prototype. he was intrigued by how elegantly the home pregnancy kit was put together. organon chose canada for the test market and ms. crane and mr. sturtevant were chosen to head the project. they went on to become partners for more than 40 years until his passing in 2008. with success the pair went on to building their own marketing company named ponzi and weill. this advertising business partnership became an important role in the promotion of the pregnancy test. “every woman has the right to know whether or not she is pregnant,” said an early ad for the test that women “can do by yourself, at home, in private, in minutes.” this was margaret crane's biggest motivator to invent the at home pregnancy kit. before crane’s proposed invention, women would have to go to a doctor and have their urine tested in a lab to determine if they were pregnant. as a result, women would have to wait weeks for results. in the 1960’s, when crane’s idea first came to be, a pregnancy test was processed in a lab by monitoring levels of a hormone called human chorionic gonadotropin (hcg) in urine. it was discovered that women secrete high levels of hcg when pregnant. therefore, if hcg was detected it indicated pregnancy. due to the food and drug administration rules for medical devices it took a while to receive approval for her prototype in the unites states. the pregnancy test developed by crane did not receive fda approval until 1976. soon after, crane’s pregnancy test hit the market in 1977, ten year since she had first proposed her idea. it was marketed as “the predictor”. although her name was on the patents for the device, organon licensed the product to three over-the-counter pharmaceutical companies and crane never received a penny for her design. she had to sign off her rights for a dollar and never saw that dollar. but she was grateful to have met her partner in the process. it was not until 2012 when the new york times ran a short "who made it" feature and crane received proper recognition for her prototype that simplified the pregnancy of many women. crane was reading the paper one morning and noticed that the column was about the history of pregnancy test. her name was not included in the article, and she knew she had to speak up about her contribution in order to receive recognition. crane was hesitant to come forward because the article was discussing the modern version of the pregnancy test, which crane did not create. however, since crane’s ideas sparked the change in pregnancy tests with her prototype evolving into what is on shelves today, she stepped forward and emailed the author of the article. since 2012, crane has received recognition for her invention.
margaret crane
judith vaitukaitis









































judith l. vaitukaitis (august 29, 1940-october 19, 2018) was a reproductive neuroendocrinologist and clinical researcher who played a key role developing a biochemical assay in the early 1970s that ultimately led to the creation of the home pregnancy test. she served for 12 years as director of the us national center for research resources (ncrr) at the us national institutes of health (nih).









































section::::education and early development of home pregnancy test.









































vaitukaitis was born in hartford, connecticut, and received a b.s. degree in chemistry and biology from tufts university in 1962.
judith vaitukaitis