5 surprising facts you didn’t know about contraception

Photo by Reproductive Health Supplies Coalition on Unsplash

Contraception gives women autonomy over whether or not they have children, when they have them, and how many of them they have. The World Health Organization considers access to contraception to be a fundamental human right, and there are a myriad of contraceptive methods that exist.

These typically belong in either the long-acting reversible contraception (LARC), or the short-acting contraception category. 

LARC contraceptives are:

• Intrauterine devices (IUDs) aka the copper coil

• Intrauterine systems (IUSs) aka the hormonal coil

• Implants

Short-acting methods include:

• Condoms

• Pills

• Injections 

And then there are other options like the rhythm and withdrawal methods. There’s a lot to get your head around, and even if you’ve been using contraception for years, it’s likely there’s a lot you don’t know about it. 

So! Here are five facts about contraception that you may be surprised to read.

Female sterilisation is the most popular form of contraception

According to the most recent data, female sterilisation and male condoms are the most popular forms of contraception in the world. Figures from the United Nation’s World Family Planning report show that 219 million women (22.9%) are sterilised, while 208 million men (21.8%) use condoms. 

To give you a broader picture, women are slightly more likely (46%) to use short-acting methods of contraception than long-acting reversible methods (44%). The remaining 9% opt for traditional methods like withdrawal or the rhythm method. 

Every day pills contain placebos

Every day pills are one of three types of the combined pill. There are 28 pills in each pack — 21 of which are active, and the last seven pills which are inactive placebos. These pills are a different colour to the rest of the pills in the pack, and don’t contain any hormones. 

The placebos exist so that users get into the routine of taking the pill at the same time every day with no breaks in between. The idea is that this is an easier approach to staying consistent with the pill, instead of taking a break for seven days and then having to remember to start taking the pill again, as is the case with Monophasic 21-day pills and Phasic 21-day pills.

The copper coil can be used as emergency contraception

Did you know that the copper coil is the most effective form of emergency contraception? An emergency copper coil — also known as an intrauterine device (IUD) — is 10 times more effective than the emergency contraceptive pill, and can be fitted up to five days after you’ve had unprotected sex. The copper released by the IUD is toxic to sperm and prevents fertilisation. 

Clinical trials for hormonal male contraceptives began in the 1970s 

You read that correctly. For the last 50 years scientists have been conducting clinical trials to develop an effective hormonal male contraceptive. During that period multiple hormonal and non-mormonal pills, injections and gels have been developed, yet none have been approved for use. This is largely attributed to unpleasant side effects and lack of funding.

Breastfeeding is more than 99% effective at preventing pregnancy

Am I the only one surprised to learn this? While I’m not completely ignorant to the idea that breastfeeding delays ovulation (I exclusively breastfed two children so have experienced this first-hand), I was unaware that breastfeeding, which is officially called the lactational amenorrhea method, is 99% effective when done correctly. That means only 2 in 100 women who use this method will become pregnant in a year. 

This is because frequent exclusive breastfeeding produces high levels of the hormone prolactin which inhibits ovulation. In order for the lactational amenorrhea method to be successful, women must exclusively breastfeed day and night, and wait no longer than four hours during the day or six hours at night between feeds. The NHS states that, ‘This method only works for the first 6 months after giving birth and you need to start as soon as you have your baby’.

With all of that said I have two questions: 

Which of these facts surprised you the most? 

AND 

Do you have any other surprising facts that you’d like to share?