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

Patient mistrust and poor access hamper federal efforts to overhaul family planning

Two years ago, after an emergency cesarean section at a Mississippi hospital, Sherika Trader was denied a tubal ligation. Trader, now 33, was told that to have her tubes tied, she had to have a second child or a husband's permission, even though she wasn't married.

21 Nov 2022

Research in young rats shows how hormonal contraceptives may affect the brain

Reproductive health experts consider hormonal contraceptives good choices for adolescents because they're safe and highly effective at preventing pregnancy, but one aspect of their effect on the teenage body remains a mystery – whether and how they modify the developing brain.

16 Nov 2022

Sick profit: Investigating private equity’s stealthy takeover of health care across cities and specialties

Two-year-old Zion Gastelum died just days after dentists performed root canals and put crowns on six baby teeth at a clinic affiliated with a private equity firm.

14 Nov 2022

Abortion issue helps limit Democrats’ losses in midterms

Republicans are likely to take control of one or both houses of Congress when all the votes are counted, but Democrats on Wednesday were celebrating after their party defied expectations of substantial losses in the midterm election.

9 Nov 2022

Post-‘Roe,’ contraceptive failures carry bigger stakes

Birth control options have improved over the decades. Oral contraceptives are now safer, with fewer side effects. Intrauterine devices can prevent pregnancy 99.6% of the time. But no prescription drug or medical device works flawlessly, and people's use of contraception is inexact.

7 Nov 2022

Health Heroines: Supporting Women and Striving for Universal Health Coverage

In this interview we speak to Ms. Anita Kouvahey-Eklu, a recent Heroines of Health award winner, about her work in addressing gender inequalities within healthcare.

From Women in Global Health 7 Nov 2022

New approach increases the likelihood of detecting antiphospholipid syndrome

The Geneva University Hospitals, the University of Geneva and their spin-off Endotelix have created the best possible target molecule for the antibodies responsible for antiphospholipid syndrome.

1 Nov 2022

What are the implications of microbial ecosystems for female reproductive health?

Researchers reviewed the current understanding of the composition and temporal dynamics of microbial niches in the female reproductive tract.

31 Oct 2022

Study finds differences in childbearing between racial/ethnic groups across educational levels

College-educated Black women in the United States give birth to fewer children than their white and Hispanic counterparts, according to a new study coauthored by Yale sociologist Emma Zang.

20 Oct 2022

Minor changes in menstrual cycle length identified after COVID-19 vaccination

In new research, scientists assessed whether coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines are associated with changes in the menstrual cycle.

29 Sep 2022

Texas, battling teen pregnancy, recasts sex education standards

J.R. Chester got pregnant the summer before her senior year of high school. A bright student with good grades, she gave birth, graduated, and was pregnant again when she arrived at college that fall.

20 Sep 2022

BU researcher awarded $7.2 million grant to develop mAb-based contraceptive products

Deborah Jean Anderson, PhD, professor of medicine at Boston University School of Medicine, has received a four-year, $7.2 million grant from the NIH's National Institute of Child Health and Human Development renewing support for a Contraceptive Research Center at BUSM to further her research to develop innovative monoclonal antibody (mAb)-based contraceptive and multipurpose prevention technology (MPT) products.

15 Sep 2022

Court ruling may spur competitive health plans to bring back copays for preventive services

Tom and Mary Jo York are a health-conscious couple, going in for annual physicals and periodic colorectal cancer screening tests. Mary Jo, whose mother and aunts had breast cancer, also gets regular mammography tests.

15 Sep 2022

Combined oral contraceptives associated with elevated risk of venous thromboembolism in obese women

Obese women who use oral contraceptives containing estrogen and progestin have a 24-fold increased risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE) compared with non-obese women not using the drugs, according to a review paper published today in ESC Heart Failure, a journal of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC).

14 Sep 2022

Microneedle technology for low-cost, painless, and bloodless tattoos

Instead of sitting in a tattoo chair for hours enduring painful punctures, imagine getting tattooed by a skin patch containing microscopic needles.

14 Sep 2022

Should pregnant women be included clinical trials?

The current study reports some of the scientific, ethical, and legal considerations that will support the inclusion of pregnant women in future research.

8 Aug 2022

A GOP talking point suggests birth control is not at risk. Evidence suggests otherwise.

Republicans who oppose abortion have new talking points — birth control will remain easily available in the wake of the Supreme Court's decision overturning the federal right to abortion, and when Democrats say otherwise, they are just trying to scare voters.

5 Aug 2022