Frequently asked questions

Women who choose not to use any birth control and who are sexually active for one year have an 85% chance of becoming pregnant in that year (depending on variables such as age and frequency of intercourse). ¹ Worldwide, more than a quarter of women who become pregnant have either an abortion or an unplanned pregnancy. ² The use of contraception, or birth control, can significantly lower your chances of becoming pregnant unintentionally.

You may choose to use contraception for a variety of reasons:

• You may have decided that you don’t wish to have children or would love them – just at a later point in your life.
• You may choose to use birth control to help space the timing of the births of your children.
• You may be feeling like your family is complete, so you wish to guard against the possibility of becoming pregnant again.

Choosing the birth control that is right for you is a personal decision and should be an informed one. You have your own unique needs, so you may prefer a particular contraceptive method over another – depending on your health, sexual, moral, or reproductive needs.

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Following ovulation (release of an egg) an egg is only available for fertilization for about a 12-24 hour window each month. You are more likely to get pregnant during the five days leading up to ovulation and the one day after it. This is because sperm can live inside the female body for up to five days, so even if you do not ovulate for another four days after having sex, there could still be sperm living inside you that can fertilize the egg when it is released. Therefore if you are having unprotected intercourse and don’t wish to become pregnant, you should avoid intercourse during this time. If you are trying to avoid pregnancy by figuring out when you are most fertile, known as a “natural” method of family planning. It is important to note that this is a relatively unreliable method of family planning. Timing ovulation can be tricky as it may not always happen at the same time each month.

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Some contraceptive methods are more reliable than others.

The Pearl Index is the most common technique used in clinical trials for measuring the effectiveness of a birth control method, and is named after Raymond Pearl, who introduced it in 1933. Usually two different Pearl Indices are published from studies of birth control methods:

• Typical use, which refers to failure rates for people who do not use their birth control consistently or always correctly
• Perfect use, which refers to failure rates for those whose use is consistent and always correct.

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Some contraceptive methods are more prone to failure than others. There are various reasons for contraception failure, usually caused by incorrect use or misunderstanding about use. It is important to understand how your chosen method works and how you need to use it – if in doubt, ask a healthcare professional.

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