birth control in the united states birth control in the united states birth control in the united states is available in many forms. some of the forms available at drugstores and some retail stores are male condoms, female condoms, sponges, spermicides, and over-the-counter emergency contraception. forms available at pharmacies with a doctor's prescription or at doctor's offices are oral contraceptive pills, patches, vaginal rings, diaphragms, shots/injections, cervical caps, implantable rods, and intrauterine devices (iuds). sterilization procedures, including tubal ligations and vasectomies, are also performed. margaret sanger, a birth control activist, her sister, ethel byrne, and fania mindell, leaving a courthouse in brooklyn, new york, on 8 january 1917, during a trial for opening a birth control clinic. various unsafe birth control methods were available throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. effective and safe forms of birth control became available in the united states in the 20th century with advances in science that led to the advent of safe methods and various supreme court decisions, including griswold v. connecticut in 1965 and eisenstadt v. baird in 1972, that struck down "comstock laws" that imposed government restrictions on contraceptives. in 2015-2017, 64.9% of women aged 15-49 used a form of birth control. the most common forms of birth control were female sterilization (18.6%), oral contraceptive pills (12.6%), long-acting reversible contraceptives (10.3%), and male condoms (8.7%). history