Ok, I can imagine the trolling that will ensue, but in the interest of having an academic discussion, please, someone keep this thread clean. I opened a box of condoms the other day and found a slip of paper with a chart on it. The chart compared the various methods of birth control, and their failure rate. What I learned was pretty surprising. First, a word on the study. Some medical researchers followed a set of women around for a year and looked at what types of birth control they used, if at all. Now, I know that these things are difficult to track, but let's assume that the researchers did a responsible job of controlling systematics, and did a good job with their statistics. The numbers listed in the chart are the percentage of women who got pregnant in a one year period, when using the various methods of birth control. The things that are surprising to me is that condoms (when used properly) are only marginally more effective at preventing pregnancy than coitus interuptus (pulling out) and the "rhythm method". And both of these methods are more effective than the female condom (whatever that is). See Wikipedia entry here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_birth_control_methods#Effectiveness_of_various_methods Another interesting thing is that the woman's birth control implant is about twice as effective as a vasectomy.
Those figures are not % probability of pregnancy after one night of sex but they are probabilities after one year. I presume then that these figures could change depending on what figure they are using as the average number of sexual nights per year?
I've heard of the female condom, never seen one in a store, never known anyone who used it. The diaphragm or sponge are much easier to insert, the sponge being my favourite. When you say implant, do you mean the one that goes under the skin or the arm or is an IUD considered an implant as well?
In the 45 years since this issue has been important to me, I've known one woman who got pregnant because her diaphragm failed. Condoms are far more widely used, and I've never met anyone who had a condom-failure pregnancy. Nonetheless, the condom requires a level of discipline right at the moment of extreme passion that is not easy to achieve, especially for young people. I think pregnancy due to failure of the user to unwrap the condom is a much more common problem than failure of the condom itself.
Same as the pill. The discipline of taking one every day is much more likely to be the cause of failure than the pill itself
If you can brush your teeth every morning, you can take a pill. If you can put make-up on every morning, you can take a pill. The crap of "I forgot' is just that. Crap.
I liked the sponge because I could insert it in the morning and I was good for all day, whenever it happened.
A bit different since you are brushing your teeth every morning since you were a kid. Same reason many people forget to finish their antibiotics etc. However, I am not excusing some of these bunny boilers out there Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Just saying that in (some Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!) cases, people do genuinely forget cos people forget all the time to take important medications. And since the pill is so incredibly effective when used properly, this accounts for most of the unexpected pregnancies IMO
My sister-in-law got pregnant on the pill. She got an ear infection and her antibiotics reduced the BC pills effectiveness. I think they now have a label for that.
Norplant is a hormonal implant used for birth control. It is effective for up to five years. Norplant uses hormone-carrying rods about the size and shape of matchsticks inserted under the skin, normally in the upper arm. Neither Norplant nor any other hormonal implant is currently available to women in the United States. The manufacturer of Norplant stopped distributing the Norplant System in July of 2002. Women who still have the Norplant system should contact their health care provider for information on other birth control options available after the five-year expiration date of their Norplant system. In the future, implantable hormone systems may again become available to women in the United States. For updated information on Norplant, contact the Contraception Foundation (formerly the Norplant Foundation) online or at (800) 760 http://www.pamf.org/teen/sex/birthcontrol/norplant.html
holy crap, I didn't know that. A co-worker and I were just talking about it. Its what she was considering. I guess she won't be now.
female condom. I would never want to have sex bad enough to wear it. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
That is strange, because the "common use" failure rate for a condom is 15%. I think your estimate (just saying "fuck it") of condom failure is probably accurate, although the best case scenario failure rate of 3% seems rather large. I don't think it's such a big deal---once you do something for three weeks, it becomes a habit. Yeah this is pretty frightening. So, until you feel "spongeworthy"?
