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Behavioral Methods |
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Birth control, synonymously used with contraception, is the act of deliberately preventing pregnancy or childbirth by using devices, medications or other preventive actions. To be more specific, this is carried out by employing mechanisms meant to reduce the likelihood of fertilization taking place of the ovum by spermatozoa. The earliest forms of birth control are recorded by the Ancient Egyptians. They created the contraceptive pessary and successfully used it effectively to control pregnancy. Some methods do not prevent sexually transmitted infections while others like the condom provide significant protection. The methods of birth control vary widely due social, religious and risk factors.
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These methods can be broadly categorized as physical methods and behavioral methods. Physical methods use external devices and medicines to prevent childbirth. These can either be for females or males and may be permanent depending on the method employed. Behavioral methods involve studying the occurrence of the menstrual cycle and recording of the fertility signs of the female body.
Some examples of behavioral methods of birth control include fertility awareness, coitus interruptus, avoiding vaginal intercourse, total abstinence from intercourse and lactational methods. Behavioral methods can be further divided into symptoms based methods and calendar based methods. Calendar based methods like the Rhythm Method and the Standard Day Method involves statistically plotting the menstrual cycle and estimating the likelihood of fertility based on the length of past cycles. For instance, the Standard Day Method advises that the first seven days counting from the first day of the start of the menstrual cycle, fertility is low and hence chances of fertilization is slim. From the eight day to the nineteenth day fertility is very high and intercourse should be avoided or other means of contraception should be used to avoid pregnancy. The rest of the days till the next menstrual cycle are again low on fertility. Symptom based methods involve recording of the changes in basal body temperature, cervical mucus and cervical position to determine the fertility awareness of the female body.
Coitus interruptus is another behavioral method employed to avoid fertilization. Literally meaning interrupted sex, this method involves the withdrawal of the penis from the vagina prior to ejaculation to avoid prevent the sperm from coming in contact with the ovum. There are two main risks involved in this method. The withdrawal may not occur in time or the semen left after ejaculation may still reach the vagina with the help of external factors. There is not enough objective evidence to prove that the pre-ejaculation fluids may contain sperms. Another behavioral method of birth control is to avoid vaginal intercourse by having ‘outercourse’ that is intercourse without vaginal penetration by the penis. Non vaginal sex can include anal sex, oral sex, mutual masturbation, foreplay and other means. The only risk involved here is that after ejaculation, all parts and objects must be cleaned properly otherwise the semen left over may still reach the vagina accidentally and cause fertilization. Abstinence is of course the surest way to prevent pregnancy. Lactational Amenorrhea Method (LAM) gives a guideline for determining the fertility of a woman who has given birth recently.
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