birth control

noun

Etymology: Margaret Sanger coined the term "birth control" in 1914, using it in the July 1914 issue of The Woman Rebel, and was criminally indicted for it in August 1914, under the Comstock Law for obscenity in print.

1. Voluntary control of the number of children conceived, especially by the planned use of contraception.

   “The latest research, published Wednesday in the medical journal JAMA, analyzed years of health records for thousands of Danish women ages 15 to 49, with an even split between those who started using intrauterine devices that release the hormone levonorgestrel for birth control and those who hadn’t used any type of hormonal contraceptive.”

2. Any technique used to prevent the birth of a child (such as abortion or preventing conception).