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.

Advantages and Disadvantages of the Contraceptive Implant

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

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

See more featured articles »

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

Latest Contraception News and Research

Hospital merger in Washington state stokes fears about Catholic limits on care

The proposed merger of a well-regarded secular hospital system and a larger Roman Catholic system in Washington state has triggered new alarms about religious restrictions on patients' access to care.

3 Aug 2020

There could be 7 million unplanned pregnancies because of COVID-19

The coronavirus pandemic has rippled across the globe, infecting nearly 18 million individuals worldwide to date. Though the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) affects people from all walks of life, women and girls may experience devastating effects of the outbreak.

2 Aug 2020

Monthly vaginal ring for HIV prevention receives positive opinion from EMA

The International Partnership for Microbicides today welcomed a positive opinion from the European Medicines Agency on the dapivirine vaginal ring for use by cisgender women ages 18 and older in developing countries to reduce their risk of HIV-1 infection.

24 Jul 2020

Monthly vaginal ring moves one step closer to becoming a new HIV prevention method

A vaginal ring intended to be used for a month at a time has moved one step closer to potentially becoming a new HIV prevention method for cisgender women in sub-Saharan Africa, who despite being the face of the epidemic, have few options for protecting themselves against getting infected.

24 Jul 2020

Study finds highest abortion rates in countries with legal restrictions

Abortion rates are highest in countries that legally restrict access to terminations, but lowest in high-income countries where abortion and contraception are accessible, a new study has found.

24 Jul 2020

Cost barriers prevent US women from using their preferred method of contraception

More than one in five women at risk of an unplanned pregnancy in the U.S. would use a different method of contraception if cost were not a factor, says a new study from the Texas Policy Evaluation Project (TxPEP) published in Contraception X.

14 Jul 2020

Rochester community initiative increases adolescent use of long-acting reversible contraception

A new study published in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology shows that a University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) community outreach initiative has helped adolescents in Rochester adopt long-acting reversible contraception (LARC) at a rate far higher than the U.S. overall.

9 Jul 2020

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: ‘Open the schools, close the bars’

How to safely open the nation's schools this fall has become the latest spat in attempting to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic.

9 Jul 2020

High Court allows employers to opt out of ACA’s mandate on birth control coverage

The Supreme Court Wednesday settled — at least for now — a decade's worth of litigation over the women's health provisions of the Affordable Care Act, ruling 7-2 that employers with a "religious or moral objection" to providing contraceptive coverage to their employees may opt out without penalty.

8 Jul 2020

COVID-19 pandemic affects sexual and reproductive health of young people

Social distancing and limited access to contraceptive and abortion care during the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting the sexual and reproductive health of adolescents and young adults according to a new study by researchers at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and Rutgers University.

18 Jun 2020

Woman's genetic make-up may play a role in weight gain from birth control

A woman's genetic make-up may cause her to gain weight when using a popular form of birth control, according to a study from researchers at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus.

12 May 2020

Health care professionals unlikely to discuss reversible contraception with young women

Health care professionals who provide contraceptive services outside of general practice are unlikely to discuss long-acting reversible contraception such as intrauterine devices (IUDs) or implants for young women without children - despite their proven safety, effectiveness and convenience.

7 May 2020

Noninvasive PEMF to treat men suffering from benign prostatic hyperplasia

Physicians from Sapienza University in Rome have published promising results of a small prospective interventional trial using noninvasive pulsed electromagnetic field therapy (PEMF) to treat men suffering from benign prostatic hyperplasia.

9 Apr 2020

Cultural beliefs and norms are barriers to adoption of vasectomy

Cultural beliefs and norms are making the adoption of vasectomy in Tanzania challenging.

8 Apr 2020

Fertility apps often inaccurate, study shows

People are tracking their own health more and more using mobile health applications and other personal digital health informatics. One such app line involves tracking menstruation and fertility. However, a new study published in the BMJ of Sexual and Reproductive Health in April 2020 throws doubt on the accuracy of these apps.

6 Apr 2020

Experiences of women who had negative effects when using hormonal contraception

A study of women who experienced mental ill-health from a hormonal contraception indicates they value their mental well-being higher than a satisfactory sex life. Their experiences can influence their choice of contraception.

31 Mar 2020

Patients using copper IUDs have lower cervical cancer risk compared to LNG-IUS users

Patients who used copper intrauterine devices (Cu IUD) were found to have a lower risk of high-grade cervical neoplasms (cervical cancer) compared to users of the levonorgestrel-releasing intrauterine system (LNG-IUS), according to a Columbia study recently published in Obstetrics & Gynecology.

10 Mar 2020

HHS removed images of condoms from HIV/AIDS awareness fliers

The Department of Health and Human Services stripped from a government website HIV/AIDS educational material that featured condoms, calling the images "unapproved," according to official correspondence obtained by Kaiser Health News.

2 Mar 2020

Telehealth interventions could lead to improved obstetric outcomes

Telehealth interventions are associated with improved obstetric outcomes, according to a review published from physician-researchers at the George Washington University.

11 Feb 2020

Study to evaluate safety of PrEP and dapivirine ring in pregnant women

A woman who is eight-months pregnant is the first participant to be enrolled into a study evaluating the safety and acceptability of two different HIV prevention approaches when used during pregnancy -- the monthly dapivirine vaginal ring, which is currently under regulatory review, and a daily antiretroviral (ARV) pill called Truvada, an approach already approved in several countries and commonly referred to as PrEP, short for pre-exposure prophylaxis.

10 Feb 2020