Research into landmark Danish Patient Activism

In 1974, eight Danish women sued five pharmaceutical companies and the Danish Health Authority in a high-profile case that later became known as the “contraceptive pill case”. In doing so, they made a pioneering attempt to hold the state and the pharmaceutical industry accountable for the harm they believed they had suffered because of taking early generations of contraceptive pills. The cases primarily involved debilitating blood clots.

It was the first time in Danish history that patients had taken on the pharmaceutical industry through the legal system. The case received extensive coverage in the daily press, against a backdrop of other contemporary medical scandals, such as the Thalidomide scandal, and the growing women’s movement.

Yet, after more than a decade of legal proceedings, the case ended in disappointment for these women. Today, it has largely faded from public memory.

Charging the Pill is a cultural history research project that draws on media debates, legal and scientific sources, archives and oral accounts to map, analyse and retell the story of this landmark moment in Danish patient activism.

The project explores what we can learn by taking a closer look at pivotal moments in history.

Anne Nørkjær Bang will join the project as a postdoctoral researcher.