<P> In medieval Europe, any effort to halt pregnancy was deemed immoral by the Catholic Church, although it is believed that women of the time still used a number of birth control measures, such as coitus interruptus and inserting lily root and rue into the vagina . Women in the Middle Ages were also encouraged to tie weasel testicles around their thighs during sex to prevent pregnancy . The oldest condoms discovered to date were recovered in the ruins of Dudley Castle in England, and are dated back to 1640 . They were made of animal gut, and were most likely used to prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases during the English Civil War . Casanova, living in 18th century Italy, described the use of a lambskin covering to prevent pregnancy; however, condoms only became widely available in the 20th century . </P> <P> The birth control movement developed during the 19th and early 20th centuries . The Malthusian League, based on the ideas of Thomas Malthus, was established in 1877 in the United Kingdom to educate the public about the importance of family planning and to advocate for getting rid of penalties for promoting birth control . It was founded during the "Knowlton trial" of Annie Besant and Charles Bradlaugh, who were prosecuted for publishing on various methods of birth control . </P> <P> In the United States, Margaret Sanger and Otto Bobsein popularized the phrase "birth control" in 1914 . Sanger primarily advocated for birth control on the idea that it would prevent women from seeking unsafe abortions, but during her lifetime, she began to campaign for it on the grounds that it would reduce mental and physical defects . She was mainly active in the United States but had gained an international reputation by the 1930s . At the time, under the Comstock Law, distribution of birth control information was illegal . She jumped bail in 1914 after her arrest for distributing birth control information and left the United States for the United Kingdom . In the U.K., Sanger, influenced by Havelock Ellis, further developed her arguments for birth control . She believed women needed to enjoy sex without fearing a pregnancy . During her time abroad, Sanger also saw a more flexible diaphragm in a Dutch clinic, which she thought was a better form of contraceptive . Once Sanger returned to the United States, she established a short - lived birth - control clinic with the help of her sister, Ethel Bryne, based in the Brownville section of Brooklyn, New York in 1916 . It was shut down after eleven days and resulted in her arrest . The publicity surrounding the arrest, trial, and appeal sparked birth control activism across the United States . Besides her sister, Sanger was helped in the movement by her first husband, William Sanger, who distributed copies of "Family Limitation ." Sanger's second husband, James Noah H. Slee, would also later become involved in the movement, acting as its main funder . </P> <P> The first permanent birth - control clinic was established in Britain in 1921 by Marie Stopes working with the Malthusian League . The clinic, run by midwives and supported by visiting doctors, offered women's birth - control advice and taught them the use of a cervical cap . Her clinic made contraception acceptable during the 1920s by presenting it in scientific terms . In 1921, Sanger founded the American Birth Control League, which later became the Planned Parenthood Federation of America . In 1924 the Society for the Provision of Birth Control Clinics was founded to campaign for municipal clinics; this led to the opening of a second clinic in Greengate, Salford in 1926 . Throughout the 1920s, Stopes and other feminist pioneers, including Dora Russell and Stella Browne, played a major role in breaking down taboos about sex . In April 1930 the Birth Control Conference assembled 700 delegates and was successful in bringing birth control and abortion into the political sphere--three months later, the Ministry of Health, in the United Kingdom, allowed local authorities to give birth - control advice in welfare centres . </P>

Write the methods of contraception in human and explain