Withdrawal as a Method of Contraception

Recently, an article was published in the journal Contraception about the effectiveness of withdrawal during sex as a birth control method. According to this study, written by Rachel K. Jones of the Guttmacher Institute, this method of birth control is not as ineffective as previously thought.

"The best available estimates indicate that with "perfect use," 4% of couples relying on withdrawal will become pregnant within a year, compared with 2% of couples relying on the male condom. More realistic estimates suggest that with "typical use," 18% of couples relying on withdrawal will become pregnant within a year, compared with 17% of those using the male condom. In other words, with either method, more than eight in 10 avoid pregnancy" (http://jezebel.com/5259554/can-we-stop-shaming-women-who-practice-withdrawal-now).

These statistics tell us that the difference in effectiveness between the two birth control methods, using a condom and withdrawal, are really not that large.

I am surprised to find this statistic out. Sure, of course I knew that women were not fertile all month long, so of course withdrawl could be effective at times. But what about if he has some pre-ejaculate? This has been a long standing question of mine.

According to Dr. Debby Herbenick (mysexprofessor.com), the chances of getting pregnant through pre-ejaculate is highly unlikely. On her website, Dr. Herbenick writes, "Pre-ejaculate itself doesn’t contain sperm (however, if a guy has recently ejaculated and not yet peed, then there is the chance that the pre-ejaculate could pick sperm up and carry them out of the body, which would be a pregnancy risk). However, assuming there are no sperm in a man’s urethra because he has recently peed after this last ejaculation, then there should be little to no risk of pregnancy occurring from pre-ejaculate which would make the withdrawal method - when used perfectly - a highly effective choice for pregnancy risk reduction.

I guess my next concern would be, what if he does it wrong? According to Dr. Herbenick, "Many men cannot control the timing of their ejaculation (about 20-25% of men come very quickly and with little control)" (www.mysexprofessor.com).

While this study is just about the effectiveness of withdrawal on pregnancy, I must admit that a big concern of mine when it comes to relying on withdrawal is about the transmission of STDs. This study asks health educators to talk about the effectiveness of withdrawal as a birth control method. Yes, it is great that it could be effective. Yes, I do support talking about this. And of course, there is no doubt in my mind that the conversation of STDs will be covered. But I also think that many teens and young adults place the chance of pregnancy as higher priority than the chance of getting an STD. I worry that many will use withdrawal with little hesitation and will show disregard for the chance of getting an STD. I cannot support this theory with any literature or statistics, but it is my belief that pregnancy prevention comes before STD prevention for a lot of adults. I base this off of personal experience with those who are close to me.

I guess you can say that I'm still skeptical. I don't expect there to be some sort of sexual revolution in which everyone just starts using pulling out as the one and only birth control method given this information. I just worry that effective or not, withdrawal is not necessarily a safe or healthy one.

R.I.P. Dr. George Tiller

Dr. Tiller was an inspirational and courageous man, and his death is a great loss for the many lives he has touched. I admire what he has done and his fearlessness in the face of opposition for a cause he believed in. His life, legacy, and work lives on through the many that have been touched and inspired through him.

Dr. Tiller's murder is disgusting to me. I don't understand how a person can claim to be "pro-life" and then actually take the life of another, a 67 year old man who was only practicing what he believed in and ensuring safe abortions for women. How is this man's life not significant to you?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/01/us/01tiller.html

This isn't a sole event. Not only was Dr. Tiller attacked once before, but there have been a series of attacks on those who provide late term abortions for years now.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/31/recent-cases-of-abortionr_n_209528.html