Many women who are exploring their options for birth control consider taking birth control pills (also called oral contraception). They are, after all, one of the most commonly used forms of contraception in many developed countries and – when taken correctly and consistently – are about 97% to 99% effective at preventing pregnancy… though they don’t offer any protection against sexually transmissible infections (STI). However, many women have heard that birth control pills cause women to gain weight – and that concern may keep them from taking birth control pills which are otherwise highly effective at reducing risk of pregnancy. Considering that these fears of gaining weight are keeping some women from using such effective forms of birth control (and let’s face it – pregnancy weight gain is itself quite high!), it’s worth asking: Do birth control pills actually cause women to gain weight? Continue Reading →
Contraception
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MSP Q&A: Can a woman get pregnant from a man’s pre-ejaculate (pre-cum)?
Not long ago, I noticed that a young woman had asked a question on Yahoo Questions about her risk of pregnancy from a situation in which she had fooled around with her boyfriend and was worried that she had gotten pregnant from his pre-ejaculate (pre-cum) as he had briefly put his penis inside her vagina without a condom. Even though she took Plan B (a form of emergency contraception, also called the morning after pill) about 19 hours following unprotected sex, she was still feeling very anxious and worried about her risk of pregnancy. This is what I said in my response:
It would be HIGHLY unlikely that you would get pregnant from this sexual encounter with your boyfriend for several reasons:
1. A woman actually does NOT have the same chance of getting pregnant from pre-ejaculate as she does from ejaculate; in fact, research studies have shown that there are very rarely any sperm at all in pre-ejaculate. Is it *possible* to get pregnant from a man’s pre-ejaculate? Continue Reading →