Medical treatment for endometriosis has been based in part on the clinical observations of a slight increase of infertility among endometriosis patients, of decreased pain during pregnancy and after menopause, and a low incidence of diagnosis of endometriosis after menopause. Observers assumed this decreased pain was linked to some hormonal status of pregnancy or menopause that reduced the amount of endometriosis present.

From these clinical observations and assumptions, it was a short leap of faith to the conclusion that endometriosis could be "cured" by pregnancy, menopause, or removal of the ovaries. Working from these unproven assumptions, birth control pills (BCPs) have been used to mimic the presumed beneficial effects of pregnancy, and danazol and GnRH have been developed to mimic the presumed beneficial effects of menopause.