Contraception

Birth control, also known as contraception and fertility control, is a method or device used to prevent pregnancy.

Advantages and Disadvantages of the Contraceptive Patch

The oral contraceptive pill was used widely because of its high efficacy. However, poor patient compliance inevitably led to higher-than-ideal pregnancy rates, as users often forgot to take the pill at the right time, to take it every day, or had gastrointestinal conditions which interfered with its digestion and absorption.

The Male Contraceptive Pill: is it possible?

What are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Contraceptive Implants?

Advantages and Disadvantages of the Contraceptive Vaginal Ring

Do Contraceptive Injections Affect Bones?

How Does the Progestogen-only Pill Work?

Natural Family Planning: an Overview

Natural Family Planning: Advantages and Disadvantages

Contraception and STIs

Contraception in Over 50s

Long-Acting Reversible Contraception (LARC) Types

Female Sterilization

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Advantages and Disadvantages of the Progestogen-Only Pill (POP)

IUD: Advantages and Disadvantages

IUS: Advantages and Disadvantages

Intrauterine Device (IUD) and Intrauterine System (IUS) Differences

How Does the Contraceptive Vaginal Ring Work?

How Does the Contraceptive Implant Work?

How is the Contraceptive Implant Put in and Taken Out?

How Effective are Different Types of Contraception?

How to insert a diaphragm, cap or vaginal ring

How to Use the Patch

What is the Contraceptive Patch?

Types of Contraception

Types of Combined Birth Control Pills

Male Condom versus Female Condom

How Does The Combined Pill Work?

Advantages and Disadvantages of the Combined Pill

Emergency Contraception

Does Breastfeeding Act as a Contraceptive?

Condoms for Oral and Anal Sex

Condoms - Advantages and Disadvantages

How Effective are Condoms?

Combined Pill FAQs

Blood Clot Risk and the Oral Contraceptive Pill

The Effects of Continuous Contraceptive Pill Taking

Latest Contraception News and Research

Study assesses how the Dobbs ruling changed permanent contraception procedures among young adults

The first study to evaluate the effect of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization ruling on permanent contraception procedures among young adults nationwide was published today in a JAMA Health Forum research letter.

13 Apr 2024

KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': Arizona turns back the clock on abortion access

The Arizona Supreme Court shook up the national abortion debate this week, ruling that a ban originally passed in 1864 — before the end of the Civil War and decades before Arizona became a state — could be enforced.

12 Apr 2024

Researchers call for policy changes to address perinatal mental health disparities

A team of researchers is calling for comprehensive changes to U.S. health care and social policies to improve diagnosis and treatment of perinatal mental health conditions and mitigate the dramatic disparities that put women of color at significantly greater risks of morbidity and mortality compared with white women.

3 Apr 2024

Contraceptive content shared on social media largely not from health experts, study finds

Brigham researchers looked at tweets from 2014 to 2019 about contraceptive methods and found that only a small fraction were authored by health professionals.

29 Mar 2024

KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': The Supreme Court and the abortion pill

In its first abortion case since the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022, the Supreme Court this week looked unlikely to uphold an appeals court ruling that would dramatically restrict the availability of the abortion pill mifepristone.

28 Mar 2024

Comprehensive study reveals global total fertility rate more than halved since 1950

Comprehensive estimates of past and future trends in fertility across 204 nations and territories from 1950 to 2100.

26 Mar 2024

At stake in mifepristone case: Abortion, FDA’s authority, and return to 1873 obscenity law

Lawyers from the conservative Christian group that won the case to overturn Roe v. Wade are returning to the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday in pursuit of an urgent priority: shutting down access to abortion pills for women across the country.

25 Mar 2024

Study sheds new light on the link between women's menstrual cycles, emotions, and sleep patterns

Women experience disruptions in their sleep patterns and report heightened feelings of anger in the days leading up to their period, according to new research.

21 Mar 2024

Study highlights global fertility decline and its implications for the future

The world is approaching a low-fertility future. Although by 2100 more than 97% of countries and territories will have fertility rates below what is necessary to sustain population size over time, comparatively high fertility rates in numerous low-income countries, predominantly in western and eastern sub-Saharan Africa, will continue to drive population increases in these locations throughout the century.

21 Mar 2024

Empowering women through self-care: A leap towards health equity

The potential of self-care interventions to improve the health and well-being of girls and women to promote equity, gender equality, and human rights.

20 Mar 2024

Web-based decision aid helps pregnant women to make informed decisions about sterilization

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh have developed a simple, web-based decision aid called My Decision/Mi Decisión that helps empower pregnant individuals who are considering tubal sterilization to make informed decisions about their reproductive health, according to a new study published today in JAMA Network Open.

19 Mar 2024

The state of the union is … busy

President Joe Biden is working to lay out his health agenda for a second term, even as Congress races to finish its overdue spending bills for the fiscal year that began last October.

7 Mar 2024

Novel screening system reveals sperm cell development and health at the molecular level

A novel screening system developed at Kyoto University enables researchers to investigate sperm cell development and health at the molecular level.

5 Mar 2024

Unlocking non-hormonal male contraception with HDAC inhibitors

Surveys show most men in the United States are interested in using male contraceptives, yet their options remain limited to unreliable condoms or invasive vasectomies.

20 Feb 2024

Research uncovers link between reproductive factors and COPD risk in women

A range of reproductive factors, including age when periods first start and an early menopause, are all linked to a heightened risk of COPD—the umbrella term for progressive lung conditions that cause breathing difficulties—finds research published online in the journal Thorax.

14 Feb 2024

Hormonal steroids found to boost drug resistance in gonorrhea bacteria

Study uncovers how Neisseria gonorrhoeae, a major sexually transmitted infection pathogen, utilizes host-produced hormonal steroids to enhance its drug resistance and survival, revealing a complex interaction between bacterial resistance mechanisms and human hormonal environment.

13 Feb 2024