1975 Hit Became the Most Controversial Song of Country Icon's Career
In 1975, Loretta Lynn released her most controversial song 15 years after the birth control pill was introduced on May 9, 1960-and it remains one of the most enduring songs on the subject 66 years later.
The song, titled "The Pill," follows a woman who is frustrated and angry that her husband gets her pregnant every year before ultimately finding freedom through birth control pills.
Recorded in 1972 and held back by Lynn's label, the song was finally released in 1975 on her album Back to Country and was the only single released from that record.
Like many of Lynn's previous songs, "The Pill" weaves in elements from her personal life. Lynn married her husband, Oliver Lynn, at the age of 15 and the pair shared six children, four of whom were born while she was only a teenager.
"I had four kids before I was 18," Lynn old TIME magazine in 1975. "If I had had the pill, I would've been popping it like popcorn."
"The Pill," unsurprisingly, was very controversial when it was first released, with many country radio stations refusing to play it. At one point, Lynn was nearly banned from the Grand Ole Opry.
"You know I sung it three times at the Grand Ole Opry one night, and I found out a week later that the Grand Ole Opry had a three-hour meeting, and they weren't going to let me [sing it]…" she told Playgirl Magazine. "If they hadn't let me sing the song, I'd have told them to shove the Grand Ole Opry!"
However, not all of the reception was negative. In her interview with Playgirl, Lynn recalled how a number of rural doctors had told her that "The Pill" had done more to highlight the availability of birth control in isolated, rural areas than all of the pamphlets they had released.
Though it was shunned by country radio, "The Pill" went on to become Lynn's biggest crossover hit, peaking at No. 70 on the Billboard Hot 100 and becoming her highest-charting song on the pop chart.
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This story was originally published May 9, 2026 at 6:07 PM.