The Pill

each, divided equally between Jack and the organizations, it was a very nice income for Jack, and a total financial makeover for the organisations. The income divided among several groups promoting different ideologies. Previously, they were all begging for donations for coffee and cookies at conferences. Now, flying in guest speakers, political contributions, local TV broadcasts, distant dreams just two months ago, became a reality. Extensive advertising, opinion pieces in newspapers, all contributed to a sense of legitimacy, especially among California's liberal communities, and largely as a reaction to the demonization the pill underwent in conservative districts. A major concern of the southern states was the spillover into their districts. Indeed, the fear was justified, although flash enacted laws prohibiting the import of even raw materials failed to help, as sending pills by regular mail, or later disguised as a candy, became the delivery method of choice.

  Self-appointed experts claimed high sales will last only a short time. The large group of women interested in this solution will buy it, and then sales will drop to accommodate only women reaching 35 without children. This forecast has not been realized. Raising children has never been easy anywhere, and the United States made no special efforts to help. Pressured by tens of thousands of new "customers", feminist organizations began using their new considerable political influence, promoting laws that would make raising children easier for single mothers. Inspired by enlightened Europe, buoyed by populist statements and with so many levels of government to try to advance an agenda, California was the perfect place to promote such legislation. First were small towns that opened free daycare from the age of two years, followed by San Francisco which opened free public nurseries from the age of six weeks for anyone who can’t afford it. The state of California was next, with six months paid maternity leave for civil servants, and a wave of petitions and demonstrations that made most large companies in the state do the same. The booming high-tech industry, along with the recent reforms in taxation, have allowed California to generously fund it all. In contrast to other Western countries, who suffer from a decline in women fertility, and apocalyptic predictions about the consequences of this decline, there has been a sudden sharp rise in fertility in California. Although the new laws also encouraged traditional pregnancies, most of the growth came from the pill. Within a year, fifty thousand pregnancies, about a tenth of the country's number of pregnancies, resulted from the pill. The profit was even greater, since all sales in the US have passed through California. A growing group of users were women after menopause. While these women had no chance conceiving naturally, at high doses the pill did initiate a pregnancy. Of course, these were high risk pregnancies, but Jack, who never missed a financial opportunity, started pushing through the feminist organizations a genome sequencing service to identify fetal abnormalities from the mother’s blood, thus minimizing the risk to zero. This wasn’t a new technology, but in the combination of a pill to get pregnant, a test, a pill to abort, and back again, there was something especially outraging for conservatives. For the state this was a source of great profit. Whereas the increased spending and resulting taxes by pregnant young women was offset by the costs of the new services, older women spent more money and tended to favor private nurseries. It seemed that California enters a political and economic renaissance.

  Feminist thinkers, of the kind that in previous years couldn’t insert a comment in a local tabloid, received opinion columns in leading newspapers. In newly-formed research institutes, women scholars were debating among themselves whether men are at all necessary, will there be men in the future, or is it a passing phase of human evolution. Political scientists begun talking about the political implications of the expected demographic change. While most researchers saw no importance in the fact that in twenty years there will a higher percentage of women of voting age, some of the female scholars saw this as the end of male politics. They talked about a new era in which men, as a minority, will no longer have a major representation in politics, and how women prefer women in positions of power, and the moral justification for that. Of course, this utopian vision also included the end of wars and violence. In three locations around San Francisco women only communes were established. Susan was made a guest of honor in one of them, and a short time later, following a relationship with one of the residents, a permanent member. She tended to stay away from politics. Instead, she found a job at Jack’s, juggling between laboratory management and office work. Jack did not need her laboratory or management skills, but Susan was and remains an icon. Jack wanted to ensure that he and only he could sell the pill, and while a battery of lawyers tried to build his case, the controversial legal status made him think about his relationship with the feminist organizations that sold the product. It was a long list of organizations, too many faces and names, but the advantage was that no single organization will remove itself from the community and try to find another unfamiliar provider. Even the high price was a result of a silent agreement between all of them. Susan's employment will ensure that even if other manufacturers will offer everyone a better deal, they will not take it for fear of the political ramifications of betraying Susan, or so Jack thought. In any case, another personal assistant can’t hurt.

  Susan and Jack got along great. Aware of her preference for women, and his new status as CEO, Jack didn’t hit on her, even though she return her former figure. Now that her daughter could spend a few hours away from her mother, Susan went back to drinking, albeit moderately. This fitted Jack, who never refused a glass of whiskey, even in the middle of a workday. In the evenings they would often go to local pubs, to pick up girls. Jack's apartment, a luxurious penthouse in the city center, now also served Susan, when she found a one night stand. She was in a relationship with Laura, a feminist activist and gender scholar, but that relationship didn’t give her the thrills she wanted. Inwardly, Susan feared Laura, now a vice president in the third largest feminist organization in San Francisco, takes advantage of Susan’s position to advance her political career. In several cases where Laura could not babysit Susan’s daughter while she "works", Jack even volunteered to baby-sit so Susan can party with another fan. He also began to take her on his overseas travels, where he unsuccessfully tried to break into new markets, and compensated himself for failing with the attractions and bars of those countries. Laura felt her relationship with Susan cooled down, but assumed it to be a passing phase. For her, it was the most exciting time in history to be a woman. At least once a week she was able to publish an opinion column in one magazine or another. Her main agenda centered on the argument that once a woman is exposed to the possibility of a whole family without men, she will always prefer this option. The desire for children is a subconscious impulse that leads women to enter into relationships with men.

  At the dinner table Susan started talking about the possibility of another daughter. Laura wasn’t ready for such a sacrifice. Although she had tenure at a local college, her political career, the elections for the organization in a year, and her general dislike of children, prevented her from even consider the issue. Susan will bear the burden of children, while she promotes the liberation of women. The current flag she was raising was promoting a law that would make the pill legal. No more sale agreements for veterinary use, no more humiliating clauses that restrict a woman’s right to her own body, no to many years awaiting an FDA approval. A law that states that the pill is legal in California for moral, not just medical, reasons. A significant part of the organization's resources allocated to promote the law, lobbyists were hired, surveys were conducted and advertising space bought. Susan and Laura never shared a home. They lived in adjacent houses in the commune. It was at a dinner at Susan’s home when she announced she was pregnant. Laura responded with reserved happiness, trying to figure out if now is a good timing, since the expected date fell between the vote on the law and the vote for the leadership of the organization. Laura has always been practical. In the following months the two women buried themselves at work, Laura with
her agenda and Susan since now, as before, she stopped drinking, and this reduced to zero her social life. However, it was evident both were very happy with their lives. After many months of fighting for every vote, Laura felt for the first time there is a chance that the law will pass the referendum. On the waves of this achievement Laura hoped to surf away to head the organization, than national politics, and maybe even president one day. In the months before the vote, Laura and Susan rarely met. At first it was Laura who was too busy, then Susan developed complications of pregnancy and remained in the hospital, asking Laura not to come. Laura blamed it all on the pregnancy, and planned to fix everything after the vote, then she will have the time. Her organization made a live broadcast of the vote, as if it was the presidential election. Balloons were prepared in advance, posters on the walls and after learning the preliminary results, a too long victory speech by Laura. The next afternoon, after a long