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

Women with kidney failure have low rates of contraceptive use, research finds

New research from the University of Cincinnati finds that women with kidney failure have low rates of contraceptive use.

12 Nov 2020

Trump’s anti-abortion zeal shook fragile health systems around the world

In Ethiopia, health clinics for teenagers once supported by U.S. foreign aid closed down. In Kenya, a decades-long effort to integrate HIV testing and family planning unraveled.

10 Nov 2020

Coming abortion fight could threaten birth control, too

Abortion opponents were among those most excited by the addition of Justice Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. And they had good reason to be.

5 Nov 2020

Catholic Ob/Gyn practitioners lean toward natural birth control methods, study reveals

A study of Catholic obstetrician-gynecologists shows that many face moral dilemmas when dealing with issues of family planning and abortion due to their religious faith, according researchers at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus.

16 Oct 2020

Access to emergency contraception can help reduce unintended pregnancy in teens

About 22 percent of women between the ages of 15 and 44 report having used emergency contraception. But even though the Food and Drug Administration approved levonorgestrel--more commonly known as Plan B--for over-the-counter use for women of all ages in 2013, it's not always easy to get--especially at local, mom-and-pop drug stores.

30 Sep 2020

Without Ginsburg, judicial threats to the ACA, reproductive rights heighten

On Feb. 27, 2018, I got an email from the Heritage Foundation, alerting me to a news conference that afternoon held by Republican attorneys general of Texas and other states. It was referred to only as a "discussion about the Affordable Care Act lawsuit."

21 Sep 2020

Incentive scheme for GPs provides information about long-acting reversible contraceptives

This is the finding of researchers from Imperial College London, who conducted the first large-scale analysis of an incentive scheme for GPs to provide women with information about long-acting reversible contraceptives, termed LARCs.

15 Sep 2020

Study analyzes how birth control, girls' education can accelerate fertility decline

Widespread use of contraceptives and, to a lesser extent, girls' education through at least age 14 have the greatest impact in bringing down a country's fertility rate.

8 Sep 2020

Age-appropriate contraception counseling can help prevent unplanned pregnancies in adolescents

Preventing unplanned pregnancies in adolescents with effective and easy-to-use contraception is key to ensuring that adolescents do not become parents before they are ready. Adolescents view their health care providers as trusted sources of medical information.

27 Aug 2020

COVID-19 lockdown on sexual and reproductive health in Australia

The COVID-19 pandemic spread to Australia early this year, triggering a national lockdown from March 22 to May 8, 2020. Non-essential travel was strongly discouraged unless to access essential goods and services, to receive or provide care, to exercise, or to attend work or education where these activities could not take place at home. This approach led to very few cases and deaths in Australia. However, the lockdown led to other forms of hardship. One of these areas is that of social and reproductive health (SRH).

13 Aug 2020

Study shows how African health services are handling disruptions caused by COVID-19

In our first episode, presenter Selly Amutabi brings you stories about how health services have been coping with disruptions caused by efforts to contain the COVID-19 outbreak.

11 Aug 2020

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