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, which could fool a woman into thinking she may not be ovulating when really she is, resulting in a pregnancy.
Any of these methods could be used by people of certain religions or by people who do not consider premarital intercourse.
Physical
The cervical cap or diaphragm- is inserted into the vaginal cavity each time she has intercourse. This can also be used with a spermicidal cream or gel. The gel will prevent any sperm lurking around, after the cap is removed, getting to the egg. Condoms are also used in the same way and can be used by both male and female.
IUD – is a small plastic coil inserted into the woman’s uterus and usually left there for a few months or even years. It works by preventing the egg from settling in the uterus. Although this is a very reliable method of contraception it is not suited to all women as it can cause long, heavy, painful periods. It is usually offered to women who have already had one or more children.
Medical
Combined pill – contains two hormones, oestrogen and progesterone that stop’s the ovaries producing eggs. It sends false signal’s to the hypothalamus, which tricks the brain into thinking there has been no ovulation. This type of contraception was first bought over the counter in Great Britain in 1961. It was a minor miracle for women in the 60’s. They no longer had to worry about getting pregnant, and to take a pill every morning was hassle free. It proved to be one of the most popular forms of contraceptives, although it was thought to promote promiscuity as women could have sexual intercourse without having the worries of getting pregnant and so slept with more men. It is almost 100% reliable if taken regularly each day. It will make menstruation lighter and less painful and has very few side effects. The side effects include deep vein thrombosis, breast cancer and cervical cancer after prolonged use. Doctors recommend that women who smoke and are over 35 find an alternative to the pill due to the increased risk of thrombosis. Also sickness and diarrhoea could make the pill ineffective, and a woman may be forced to use another form of contraceptive until her next menstrual cycle.
The morning after pill – is a large double dose of the combined pill, which can be taken up to 72 hours after unprotected intercourse to terminate a pregnancy or to protect against fertilization.
Injection – is given every 3 months and can prevent the woman from having a period for 6 months after the final injection.
Surgical
Sterilization and vasectomy are both surgical operations performed in a hospital. Neither operation is major and can be performed under local or general anaesthetic. Female sterilization is cutting, blocking or tying the fallopian tubes to prevent the sperm from meeting the egg. All it requires is for the woman to have completed her family and be totally sure she won’t want more any more as it is a very difficult operation to reverse and the success rate is low.
For the man a simple operation in which the vas deferens on each side are cut, blocked or tied to prevent the semen from containing sperm. Both operations are a permanent method of birth control and are almost 100% reliable.
Norplant is another form of hormone contraceptive in which five, matchstick sized sticks are implanted into the woman’s arm just below her tricep muscle and are left in place for 5 years. Again, like the pill, they are a very reliable form of contraception with very few side effects.
Abortion means the loss of a child from the womb before it has developed sufficiently to survive. A majority of abortions are carried out on young women or girls who have been given wrong or misleading information or have ignored the good advice they have been given.
There are clearly enough contraceptive methods available today to be able to make an informed choice whether or not to have children. With all the information available, there really should be no excuse for unwanted pregnancies. If we inform our children/teenagers about the dangers and pleasures of sexual intercourse as early as they are able to cope with, then there is no basis for unsafe sex or abortions. Perhaps we should take a leaf out of the Europeans book. They don’t censor naked bodies but they do sensor violence; teenagers are more likely to have sex 2 years later than the American’s (about 15.8) and they don’t have a high rate of sexually transmitted diseases or unwanted pregnancies. Instead they actively promote sex, it is available to watch on television 24/7, and prostitution is legal. Maybe if England were to have a lighter attitude towards the most natural instinct there is, then maybe we wouldn’t have so many unwanted, teenage pregnancies.
Internet site where I retrieved some of the information for the essay
http://www.ask.co.uk/metasearch.asp?aj_product=IndexSearch&MetaEngine=Teoma&EngineOrdinal=2&ItemOrdinal=5&m=10&AdServerCode=&MetaURL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Ecwrl%2Eutexas%2Eedu%2F%7Eulrich%2Ffemhist%2Fbirth%5Fcontrol%2Eshtml__score_0.61__&MetaTopic=Women%27s+History+Then+%26+Now+%2D+Birth+Control&ask=history%2Bof%2Bthe%2Bcontraceptive%2Bpill%2Bin%2Bengland&LogId=EBB600205ABE0D489D3F74DD2C0C0550&origin=0&qsource=4&qcategory=EDU_&aj_is=no&rf=&x=false&uk=false