How to Understand Birth Control

There are four main categories of birth control, or family planning: unreliable methods, methods without prescriptions, methods with prescriptions and surgical methods. Understanding these methods will help you choose the best family planning method for you and your partner.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Unreliable Methods

1. Natural Family Planning (NFP) combines monitoring a woman's temperature in the morning and monitoring the changes in the cervical mucus and then marking them on a calendar. Several days before and after ovulation, the couple must abstain from sex. NFP is not always successful in preventing or limiting births.
2. Use coitus interruptus, also called the withdrawal method. This is when the penis withdraws from the vagina before the male ejaculates. Not an extremely effective method because semen will often escape prior to full withdrawal.
3. Douche shortly after sex. This is not effective because the sperm can get past the cervix 90 seconds after ejaculation.
4. Relying on breastfeeding to prevent ovulation is a myth. Many women get pregnant while breastfeeding each year.

Without Prescription

5. Purchase male or female condoms. Besides preventing pregnancy if used properly, they also can help prevent HIV and other STDs.
6. Decide between the different spermicides--chemical jellies, foams, creams, or suppositories that will essentially kill the sperm on contact. This method works, but there are other far better forms.
7. Insert a diaphragm or cervical cap--these are very reliable if used correctly. The diaphragm is a small rubber flexible cup that is inserted into the vagina to cover the cervix and filled with spermicidal cream or jelly before intercourse. Leave the diaphragm in place for 6 to 8 hours after intercourse to prevent pregnancy.
8. Place a vaginal sponge in the vagina. The sponge is covered with spermicide and is inserted prior to intercourse after moistening. The sponge is left to cover the cervix for six to eight hours.

Prescription Required

9. Use the combination birth control pills, which is 97 to 99 percent effective. This method combines hormones like estrogen and progestin to prevent ovulation.
10. Acquire the mini-pill. This method is usually offered for those women who are sensitive to estrogen or are breastfeeding.
11. Take the three-month pill, which is 98 percent effective. It is taken for three straight months followed by one week of inactive pills creating four menstrual cycles a year.
12. Swallow the morning-after pill; this needs to be administered within 72 hours after having unprotected sex.
13. Get injections with Depo-Provera. This injection is usually given in the upper arm muscle or in the buttocks. One shot will work up to 90 days. This method is 99 percent effective.
14. Position the patch, Ortho Evra, on your shoulder or buttocks as a family planning method that is 99 percent effective. This method releases both progestin and estrogen and is changed weekly for three weeks, then followed by one week without a patch.
15. Fill your prescription for a vaginal ring, which will give you a protection of 99 percent to prevent pregnancy. This is inserted into the vagina and stays there for about three weeks, and then taken out for one week.
16. Use an IUD, which is placed inside the woman's uterus by her doctor. This is 99 percent effective. This device is a small plastic or copper unit and should not be used by women who are at high risk of getting pelvic infections.
17. Have small rods surgically implanted under the upper arm. These release a small dose of progestin to prevent ovulation and are usually kept in place for five years. This method is 99 percent effective.