The next year, a team of researchers allied with Pincus began another large-scale trial of the pill in Puerto Rico. Yet again, the side effects were hard to ignore. One researcher noted that the women appeared to be suffering from cervical erosion (“whatever you call it, the cervix looks ‘angry’”), but the tests continued. Stopping them would mean delaying approval from the Food and Drug Administration, which the researchers were eager to get. They got it. In 1960, basing its decision largely on the Puerto Rican trials, the FDA approved the birth control pill for commercial sale.
