The use and effectiveness of contraceptives.

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Kerry Milton                11/5/03

THE USE AND EFFECTIVENESS OF CONTRACEPTIVES

Contraception has been used now for hundreds of years and is used to prevent unwanted pregnancies.  Contra, meaning against and ception, meaning conceiving.  They continue to be developed and new methods continuing to be discovered.

Condoms were first thought to have been used by the well-known lover, Casanova.  He used fabrics made from fine linens sewn together.

There are around twenty different options of contraception that are available to men and women today, and different methods are used by different people for various reasons.  Whether it is cultural, race or ethnical, or just choice, there is probably one for every body.

The various types of contraceptive can be put into 4 groups.

They are:

  • Behavioural- Withdrawal – Abstention - Rhythm method.
  • Physical–Cap (diaphragm)- Condom (male and female)- IUD.
  • Medical–Oral pill- Morning after pill -Injection.
  • Surgical-Sterilization - Vasectomy - Norplant implant – Abortion.

Behavioural

This category requires a great deal of will power and effort on behalf of the man and the woman.  They all have more negatives than positives because each one requires control and commitment and cannot be guaranteed to be effective forms of contraception.

Withdrawal- is when the man removes his penis before he ejaculates.  It can be an unsafe method of contraception because the man can pre-ejaculate allowing some of his sperm into the woman’s vagina before completing intercourse.

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Abstention- avoiding intercourse takes an immense amount of will power and control and may lead to infidelity for both the man and the woman.

Rhythm Method-is a method that requires the woman to take her temperature daily to calculate her menstrual cycle.  This will indicate when she is about to ovulate allowing her to chart when she will be at her most fertile and would abstain from sexual intercourse at this time.  This method takes time, dedication and will power.  Using this method may give misleading results because there are many factors that can change a persons temperature, ...

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