The Purpose of Birth Control

If a fertile woman is sexually active, she can easily get pregnant. If she wants to have a child, then it is fine not to use some form of birth control. However, if she does not want a child, she should use birth control. She also has to decide if she wants to have children in the future because this will determine the type of birth control method that best suits her male partner and her.

Birth control has a variety of other names. These include pregnancy prevention, contraception, family planning, or fertility control. No matter what you call it, there is a large variety of methods that significantly reduce the chance of getting pregnant. While some methods are more effective than others, the truth is that no method is 100 percent safe.

What is even more alarming is the fact that most birth control methods cannot prevent the transmission of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). Neither are they able to prevent sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in males. The only 100 percent way to prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases is abstinence. This means not having any sexual intercourse.

In the United States of America, it has been estimated that there are more than 3,000,000 unplanned pregnancies every year. Fifty percent of these are because couples do not use any form of birth control. The other fifty percent of couples did use birth control, but they did not know how to use it correctly.

All birth control methods have one objective, and that is to prevent men’s sperm from reaching women’s eggs and fertilizing them. When this happens, women become pregnant. Some methods can be permanent or reversible. A reversible method refers to birth control that can be stopped whenever the couple wishes, without affecting the woman’s ability to get pregnant in the future.

Permanent birth control refers to methods that cannot be reversed because they involve surgery. There are two common irreversible surgical procedures. The first is a vasectomy for a man, and the second is for the woman, namely a tubal ligation. There are other systems known as barrier, mechanical, or hormonal methods. A barrier method refers to the use of a condom, a mechanical method refers to the implantation of an IUD (intrauterine device), and a hormonal method refers to birth control pills.

Then there is what is known as a 'natural' method. This does not involve the use of any hormones or devices. It means that the woman’s menstrual cycle is monitored to determine the times of the month when she is least likely to become pregnant.

The responsibility of which type of method should be used usually rests on the woman’s shoulders. In most cases, she will consult her doctor to get advice on which is the best method for her. Medical science is continually finding new birth control methods which have to be rigorously tested before being made available to the public. In many countries, governments give out free condoms to try and eliminate the problem of overpopulation, especially in rural or disadvantaged communities.