Groundbreaking form of contraceptive turns 50

OBGYN Siri Fiebiger has seen a lot of changes in her more than two decades as a doctor. One of which is one of the most groundbreaking forms of controlling if and when a woman will get pregnant.

SIRI: "The pill was and remains one of the most effective forms of contraception."

The pill, or daily birth control, is used by 100 million women worldwide each day. It was discovered by a researcher who was looking for a way to increase fertility, instead stopping it all together and pushed forward by women's right champion Maragaret Sanger, one of the founders of Planned Parenthood.

AMY: "Really gave women access to be able to control when they wanted to have children and how many children they wanted to have and along with that, being able to have healthy pregnancies."

Planned Parenthood in Moorhead alone prescribes the pill to 18-thousand women each year. Since its FDA approval in 1960, contraception has come a long way: new forms like rings, inserts, patches and implantable devices.

AUDREY: "Using them for non-contraceptive reasons to lighten periods, shorten periods, eliminate periods, you don't even have to have a period now. It makes women's lives so much better."

SIRI: "It's also known to decrease the risk of pelvic infections because of some of the side effects of the pill."

Over these five decades, doctors and activists say the stigma over whether this kind of medication should be used still remains among some.

SIRI: "Those who choose to use natural family planning, there's always going that small subset, but it was a small subset 20 years ago and it's still a small subset, even among Catholics."

AMY: "There will always going to be a group of people who are adamantly against it and who will create a challenge for it."

Fiebiger says there's still work to do: many insurance companies don't cover the cost of the pill. Something she believes needs to be changed in the state of North Dakota. Currently, there are about 25 different formulations of the pill.

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