Pregnancy Testing

Soon there would be the Roaring 20’s at our door. Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (hCG), was discovered in pregnant woman. This would lead to the first urine test in 1927, to detect the presence of hCG in women. The A-Z test proved to be ineffective due to the discovery that tescular tumors in Males can produce hCG as well.

Throughout the 1930’s and 1940’s childbirth books began to encourage women to seek prenatal care. With this increase in patients, Scientists began to test tissues for hCG with bioassays. These tests were very expensive, but heightened the interest in womans ovaries during human development. This lead to the first of it’s kind conference in 1932, “The Standardization in Sex Hormones.”

In 1960, the “hemagglutination inhibition test” was developed. This test was based on the bioassays, but were immunoassay instead. But the results were the same. Flawed and unreliable for early pregnancy detection.

When the 1970’s rolled around Practitioners were able to perform the in 2 hour in office Wampole’s’s test. This test could be used as early as 4 days after the initial missed period. But accuracy was still not obtained unless used at least 2 weeks after the missed period, which was stated in a womens health manual titled, “Our Bodies, Ourselves.”

It didn’t take much longer for the FDA to approve it’s first pregnancy test in 1976. This first ever at home pregnancy test to be offered in the United States beginning in 1977, and was called the Error Proof Test, (ept). The EPT was advertised in Mademoiselle’s 1978 edition, stating that the EPT allows women privacy of their condition, allowing the women the choice in options of whether or not to they decided to follow through with the pregnancy.

Not until 2003 did the next generation of home pregnancy tests find FDA approval. This time it was digital. The Clear Blue Easy Digital Pregnancy Test.

Since the first recorded pregnancy testing 3358 years ago up till today, it seems there was no need for a push in advancement in pregnancy testing until the 1970’s, which introduced abortion as an option for the first time to women. Pregnancy testing definitely has ethical and moral lines, that vary in idea and thought throughout the world. I always seem to find it interesting that the Ancient Civilizations were advanced in so many ways. Ways in which we were never taught in school. Interesting isn’t it?