Contraceptive pills, 1960s. In 1960, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first oral contraceptive, Enovid. This marked a revolution in women's reproductive health, with women gaining some control of family planning, as well as protection from dangerous pregnancies and deliveries, and therapy for menstrual irregularities and infertility. oral contraceptive pills contain synthetic versions of the female sex hormones responsible for ovulation, the release of the female reproductive cell. The pills act to suppress ovulation and effect changes in the reproductive organs to impede fertilisation and pregnancy. The hormones contained in the pills are the oestrogen ethinylestradiol and the progestin norgestimate.