Can You Get Pregnant at Any Time During Your Cycle?

Because contraceptives are recommended throughout the entire cycle for women trying to avoid pregnancy it might seem like conception is possible every time you have sex. But pregnancy can only occur during the ovulation phase of your cycle.

Identification

You can only become pregnant when a mature egg is available to be fertilized, right around the time of ovulation.

Ovulation

Ovulation occurs just once during each cycle so there is only one window of time when you can get pregnant during a given cycle, according to the American Pregnancy Association.

Time Frame

After being released from the ovary, an egg lives just 12 to 24 hours, according to the American Pregnancy Association. However, because sperm can live inside a woman's body for up to five days, there is a five to seven day period during each cycle that you can get pregnant.

Conception

Tracking ovulation can help you determine when the fertile phase of your cycle occurs; BabyCenter recommends having sex during the window of time from two days before ovulation to 24 hours after.

Considerations

Although there are only a limited number of days that conception can occur during a cycle, most women don't know when they're ovulating and many do not have predictable cycles so they're unaware of when their fertile and infertile days will occur.

References

• American Pregnancy Association
• American Pregnancy Association
• BabyCenter