Birth control and contraception

The Morning After Pill, Plan B

There are options for stopping the process of pregnancy before it really gets very far, with emergency contraception available in many countries from pharmacies.

If you can’t get hold of emergency contraceptive pills, you can use regular ‘the pill’ pills – read the chart to figure out how many pills of the brand you have to take.

The Morning After Pill, Plan B

There are options for stopping the process of pregnancy before it really gets very far, with emergency contraception available in many countries from pharmacies.

If you can’t get hold of emergency contraceptive pills, you can use regular ‘the pill’ pills – read the chart to figure out how many pills of the brand you have to take.

There are two types of IUD – hormonal and non-hormonal (also known as the copper IUD). The hormonal IUD releases hormones into the area around it in your uterus, which causes a reduction in your period blood volume.

You may not get any periods. The hormonal IUD is also smaller than the copper IUD, so can be better tolerated for many women. Both have their pros and cons, but which choice is best for you will depend on your body.

The withdrawal method (also known as the pull-out method or coitus interruptus)

The withdrawal method is where the man pulls his penis out of the vagina before he ejaculates. This means the sperm doesn’t have a chance to make its way to the egg, and no pregnancy can occur.

This method of birth control has been in use since time began, and has been extremely controversial for one very good reason: it sometimes works and sometimes definitely does not work.

But how do you know if it will work for you or not?

Well, that’s not super easy to answer because it turns out that every individual man is either able to successfully pull out, or he is not (see precum study). Now, we don’t mean he is unable to pull his penis out before he ejaculates – let’s assume he’s got that covered – but it means the pre-ejaculate fluid of each man is either fertile or it is not.

While you are having sex, some pre-ejaculate fluid escapes the man’s penis, and enter the vagina. This is normal. Each man is either fertile in this stage, or he is infertile in this stage, and this remains constant throughout his life. This has as much to do with his plumbing as anything else, and there is nothing you can do to change his status as either a pre-ejaculate-fertile man or a pre-ejaculate-infertile man. That is, able to successfully avoid pregnancy using the pull-out method or not.

The only way to figure out a man’s status as a potentially successful puller-outerer is to either undergo testing (which is likely to cost a lot as part of fertility testing) or to take your chances. Many couples can successfully go their whole relationship without getting pregnant using this method alone. The pre-ejaculate fertility is the reason why.

Charting your cycles is a valid method of birth control, so long as you know exactly what you’re doing!

Usually the minute you learn when you ovulate – and the associated fun bits that go with it – you want to experience that all the time, while also enjoying sex without contraception when it’s safe to do so.

To keep your natural cycle, the only options available to you are a copper IUD, barrier methods, or natural birth control.

If you do get pregnant, you may be able to get an abortion, but how easy, safe, and cheap this is will depend very heavily on where you live.

Women on Waves provide online medical consultations and mail abortion drugs to women who can’t get an abortion from their own country or area. Contact them for confidential help.