The history of the development of a new scientific or medical technology is a story of science in the making. In this paper we attempt to trace the development of the anti-hCG vaccine over the past 20 years, using controversy as a methodological entry point into the history.

This paper analyses, from the perspective of women's human rights, an unsuccessful attempt to amend the abortion law in the Penal Code of Sri Lanka in 1995.

Viewed in retrospect, the development of hormonal methods of fertility control could be broadly divided into three main phases: (i) development of the oral contraceptive 'Pill based on synthetic ovarian steroid hormones; (ii) the demonstration that continuous oral administration of progestins in