Birth control pills and ejaculation inside vagina
November 18, 2013 5:47 AM Subscribe
I would like to know your opinions about ejaculation inside the vagina and the risks of pregnancy, while using birth control.
My doctor prescribed me birth control pills due to heavy menstruation, and I started taking them two weeks ago right when my period started. So far I've heard quite a lot opinions on whether a guy can ejaculate inside a girl on birth control without the risk of pregnancy. Is the risk high? And if not, does it have to do with how many times it happens?
If any of you were or are on birth control I would like you to tell me your opinion on this and wheter you have or haven't done it.
Thanks a lot!
My doctor prescribed me birth control pills due to heavy menstruation, and I started taking them two weeks ago right when my period started. So far I've heard quite a lot opinions on whether a guy can ejaculate inside a girl on birth control without the risk of pregnancy. Is the risk high? And if not, does it have to do with how many times it happens?
If any of you were or are on birth control I would like you to tell me your opinion on this and wheter you have or haven't done it.
Thanks a lot!
Pretty damn effective form of birth control. Here's the Planned Parenthood page about it.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 5:55 AM on November 18, 2013 [4 favorites]
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 5:55 AM on November 18, 2013 [4 favorites]
some people like to wait a full cycle before they rely on hormonal birth control. after that month, ejaculating in the vagina is as safe as it can be. most of the time when hormonal birth control fails, its because it's not being taken correctly (for instance, while taking certain antibiotics, it can lose it's effectiveness). if getting pregnant is the worst thing that could happen, you could double up on birth control - either adding a condom or spermicidal gel or still pulling out for ejaculation.
posted by nadawi at 6:05 AM on November 18, 2013
posted by nadawi at 6:05 AM on November 18, 2013
I will add..because not everyone ovulates (releases an egg) at the same time as all the books talk about, it would be a good idea to be on the pill for a full cycle before you risk unprotected sex with ejaculation inside. Also, there are good reasons to use condoms anyway beside pregnancy avoidance, including prevention of disease, prolonging intercourse and peace of mind.
posted by BearClaw6 at 6:07 AM on November 18, 2013 [4 favorites]
posted by BearClaw6 at 6:07 AM on November 18, 2013 [4 favorites]
So, I think the key points from that Planned Parenthood page are:
Is that a high or a low risk of getting pregnant? Your call! As nadawi says there's no reason you can't double up on birth control either.
posted by mskyle at 6:09 AM on November 18, 2013 [4 favorites]
- Less than 1 out of 100 women will get pregnant each year if they always take the pill each day as directed.
- About 9 out of 100 women will get pregnant each year if they don’t always take the pill each day as directed.
Is that a high or a low risk of getting pregnant? Your call! As nadawi says there's no reason you can't double up on birth control either.
posted by mskyle at 6:09 AM on November 18, 2013 [4 favorites]
I've been on the pill for 15 years, used Mirena for another 10. I used those methods as my sole means of contraception (no condoms, no withdrawal), had plenty of penis-in-vagina sex, and never had a pregnancy scare.
No, the risk is not high. Yes, having intercourse 300 times a year will result in a higher risk than doing it 1 time a year. But still, this is what the pill was developed to do. It's pretty much as reliable as you are as a user. If you take it correctly at all times, then it's very reliable.
The risk is not really a matter of opinion; it's a matter of statistics and you can look those up. How comfortable you are with that risk is, on the other hand, entirely up to you.
posted by Too-Ticky at 6:13 AM on November 18, 2013 [6 favorites]
No, the risk is not high. Yes, having intercourse 300 times a year will result in a higher risk than doing it 1 time a year. But still, this is what the pill was developed to do. It's pretty much as reliable as you are as a user. If you take it correctly at all times, then it's very reliable.
The risk is not really a matter of opinion; it's a matter of statistics and you can look those up. How comfortable you are with that risk is, on the other hand, entirely up to you.
posted by Too-Ticky at 6:13 AM on November 18, 2013 [6 favorites]
Too-Ticky beat me to it with the awesome link. even as a 30+ year old woman, i go to scarlateen first when i'm looking for info about stuff like this.
posted by nadawi at 6:19 AM on November 18, 2013
posted by nadawi at 6:19 AM on November 18, 2013
Like Too-Ticky above, I have been using the pill (and later Mirena) as my only means of contraception for years now. No surprises so far. I am also in a long-term relationship and live with my partner. We aren't planning on ever having kids but he would be a great father. I'm also finished my education, debt-free, and making a good salary. Those factors weighed heavily into my decision to go with an IUD. I'm comfortable with the chance I might get pregnant by said partner but I'd definitely be adding condoms to the mix if I were having casual sex or in a newer relationship.
In short, you decide what risks are acceptable for you.
posted by futureisunwritten at 6:49 AM on November 18, 2013 [2 favorites]
In short, you decide what risks are acceptable for you.
posted by futureisunwritten at 6:49 AM on November 18, 2013 [2 favorites]
It's pretty damn effective, yes.
But let me say that I did get pregnant. On the pill. And after the first time sex was had in an absurdly long time (lots of stress).
So, if you do choose to rely only on the pill, you should still know what you want to do if you do get pregnant. Because while it is really effective, nothing is guaranteed 100% and being in that absurdly small 1% can be a big deal when it's you.
posted by zizzle at 8:03 AM on November 18, 2013 [5 favorites]
But let me say that I did get pregnant. On the pill. And after the first time sex was had in an absurdly long time (lots of stress).
So, if you do choose to rely only on the pill, you should still know what you want to do if you do get pregnant. Because while it is really effective, nothing is guaranteed 100% and being in that absurdly small 1% can be a big deal when it's you.
posted by zizzle at 8:03 AM on November 18, 2013 [5 favorites]
It's pretty much as reliable as you are as a user.
For certain values of 'reliable' in both cases. As said above, there's some chatter about how effective the pill is for women who are over a particular body mass. There's also a wide variety of medications which can reduce effectiveness (at the Scarlateen link) and if you're having issues with vomiting or diarrhea you can fail to get enough of the medicine absorbed to be effective. You can call keeping track of all these things as user reliability I guess but I'm not sure I would.
The important thing is to be mindful that you're taking a medication that, to be effective, depends on being effectively absorbed every single day. Until my wife got an IUD she was on a medication that causes severe birth defects and which might have interfered with oral birth control - the thing that makes this so challenging is that you don't know whether it's working or if you're just dodging the bullet. So with that in mind we used a combination of tracking & withdrawal or condoms. We weren't as rigorous about it as we would have been were she not taking the pill, but we used those methods during what we viewed as higher risk times.
As Too-ticky put it, you make your own decision about your comfort with the risk factors. 99% is pretty damned good, and if you're comfortable with termination in the case of a problem (and it's available where you live) then that's probably plenty. But 99% is not 100%, so if you wouldn't be okay with termination or having a child then you should consider supplements.
posted by phearlez at 8:11 AM on November 18, 2013 [1 favorite]
For certain values of 'reliable' in both cases. As said above, there's some chatter about how effective the pill is for women who are over a particular body mass. There's also a wide variety of medications which can reduce effectiveness (at the Scarlateen link) and if you're having issues with vomiting or diarrhea you can fail to get enough of the medicine absorbed to be effective. You can call keeping track of all these things as user reliability I guess but I'm not sure I would.
The important thing is to be mindful that you're taking a medication that, to be effective, depends on being effectively absorbed every single day. Until my wife got an IUD she was on a medication that causes severe birth defects and which might have interfered with oral birth control - the thing that makes this so challenging is that you don't know whether it's working or if you're just dodging the bullet. So with that in mind we used a combination of tracking & withdrawal or condoms. We weren't as rigorous about it as we would have been were she not taking the pill, but we used those methods during what we viewed as higher risk times.
As Too-ticky put it, you make your own decision about your comfort with the risk factors. 99% is pretty damned good, and if you're comfortable with termination in the case of a problem (and it's available where you live) then that's probably plenty. But 99% is not 100%, so if you wouldn't be okay with termination or having a child then you should consider supplements.
posted by phearlez at 8:11 AM on November 18, 2013 [1 favorite]
Nthing "wait until you start your second pack of bcp's before you ditch condoms".
I had an ex who was obsessed about ejaculating inside me without a condom.
I went on a monophasal pill, waited a month before we ditched condoms, and never got pregnant.
Also nthing "Use condoms if you have more than one partner and/or haven't been tested."
posted by luckynerd at 10:58 AM on November 18, 2013
I had an ex who was obsessed about ejaculating inside me without a condom.
I went on a monophasal pill, waited a month before we ditched condoms, and never got pregnant.
Also nthing "Use condoms if you have more than one partner and/or haven't been tested."
posted by luckynerd at 10:58 AM on November 18, 2013
Nthing "wait until you start your second pack of bcp's before you ditch condoms".
No, there's no scientific basis for this at all. Please, please stop promoting misinformation.
All women are protected after seven days. The instructions that come with the pills confirm this. Can you imagine the legal ramifications if the instructions said a week and you really needed to wait a month!
Really, it's like we feel the need to make obtaining and using contraception harder than it needs to be.
Anyway, the pill was designed to be a sole form of contraception. If you're not having ejaculation inside the vagina you're actually doubling up on contraception (pill + withdrawal). Nothing wrong with that, if it makes you more comfortable, but it's two methods and you're being extra safe.
posted by Violet Hour at 11:24 PM on November 18, 2013 [2 favorites]
No, there's no scientific basis for this at all. Please, please stop promoting misinformation.
All women are protected after seven days. The instructions that come with the pills confirm this. Can you imagine the legal ramifications if the instructions said a week and you really needed to wait a month!
Really, it's like we feel the need to make obtaining and using contraception harder than it needs to be.
Anyway, the pill was designed to be a sole form of contraception. If you're not having ejaculation inside the vagina you're actually doubling up on contraception (pill + withdrawal). Nothing wrong with that, if it makes you more comfortable, but it's two methods and you're being extra safe.
posted by Violet Hour at 11:24 PM on November 18, 2013 [2 favorites]
"Less than 1 out of 100 women will get pregnant each year if they always take the pill each day as directed.
About 9 out of 100 women will get pregnant each year if they don’t always take the pill each day as directed."
Think about that. Over the course of a decade its a 10% chance if you do everything right. 90% chance if you're timing is off. Those are horrible odds. My opinion, reserve it for "special" occasions.
posted by karst at 1:37 AM on November 19, 2013
About 9 out of 100 women will get pregnant each year if they don’t always take the pill each day as directed."
Think about that. Over the course of a decade its a 10% chance if you do everything right. 90% chance if you're timing is off. Those are horrible odds. My opinion, reserve it for "special" occasions.
posted by karst at 1:37 AM on November 19, 2013
Stats for this are widely available online and probably better information than personal anecdotes but no, the risk is not high. It's also not impossible to get pregnant while on the pill. I hear all the time about people getting pregnant on birth control; however, as pointed out this usually happens because the pill is not being taken as directed (eg not taking the pill consistently and at the same time every day, not using an alternate form of contraceptive while on antibiotics and the pill, etc). If you want another data point, I've never had a pregnancy scare in 13 years of being on the pill with frequent no-condom sex.
posted by Polychrome at 4:19 AM on November 19, 2013
posted by Polychrome at 4:19 AM on November 19, 2013
I'm not so sure that you can extrapolate from the data the way that karst is doing. For instance, it's clearly not true that with imperfect use of birth control, you would have a 180% chance of getting pregnant over the course of two decades. I think that those statistics are good approximate measures of effectiveness, but that they probably aren't good predictors of any one woman's chances of becoming pregnant.
As for the timing issue, my doctor told me that if I started birth control on the first day of my period, then I would be protected immediately. That makes sense to me, since birth control prevents ovulation. If you start taking the pill on the first day of your cycle, then you're in the process of shedding last month's egg and won't get a chance to ovulate again during the coming month.
Personally, I use the pill as my sole method of contraception. But, I make absolutely sure to take it at the same time every day, both my partner and I are monogamous and have been tested for STDs, and it wouldn't be totally catastrophic if I ended up in that <1% group. My advice is to just do what you feel comfortable with doing. If you want to wait a full cycle, then wait a full cycle. If you're worried about it, then go ahead and double up on methods of birth control (i.e. use a condom or practice withdrawal along with taking the pill). As Dan Savage says, if sex without a condom really felt all that different, then how come people don't notice when the condom breaks all the time? You could also consider talking to your doctor about getting an implant or an intrauterine device-- those are more effective at preventing pregnancy because you don't have to remember to take a pill every day.
posted by lostcosmonaut at 2:08 PM on November 19, 2013 [1 favorite]
As for the timing issue, my doctor told me that if I started birth control on the first day of my period, then I would be protected immediately. That makes sense to me, since birth control prevents ovulation. If you start taking the pill on the first day of your cycle, then you're in the process of shedding last month's egg and won't get a chance to ovulate again during the coming month.
Personally, I use the pill as my sole method of contraception. But, I make absolutely sure to take it at the same time every day, both my partner and I are monogamous and have been tested for STDs, and it wouldn't be totally catastrophic if I ended up in that <1% group. My advice is to just do what you feel comfortable with doing. If you want to wait a full cycle, then wait a full cycle. If you're worried about it, then go ahead and double up on methods of birth control (i.e. use a condom or practice withdrawal along with taking the pill). As Dan Savage says, if sex without a condom really felt all that different, then how come people don't notice when the condom breaks all the time? You could also consider talking to your doctor about getting an implant or an intrauterine device-- those are more effective at preventing pregnancy because you don't have to remember to take a pill every day.
posted by lostcosmonaut at 2:08 PM on November 19, 2013 [1 favorite]
Call your doctor and ask if you are now safe. 2 weeks...may not be enough.
posted by OhSusannah at 9:44 PM on November 24, 2013
posted by OhSusannah at 9:44 PM on November 24, 2013
"Less than 1 out of 100 women will get pregnant each year if they always take the pill each day as directed.
About 9 out of 100 women will get pregnant each year if they don’t always take the pill each day as directed."
Think about that. Over the course of a decade its a 10% chance if you do everything right. 90% chance if you're timing is off. Those are horrible odds. My opinion, reserve it for "special" occasions.
That's not how those statistics work at all, so please stop promulgating bad science and bad math. "Less than 1 out of 100 women will get pregnant every year if they always take the pill as directed" does NOT translate into every woman having a 10% chance of getting pregnant over the course of a decade.
posted by scody at 9:58 AM on December 21, 2013 [2 favorites]
About 9 out of 100 women will get pregnant each year if they don’t always take the pill each day as directed."
Think about that. Over the course of a decade its a 10% chance if you do everything right. 90% chance if you're timing is off. Those are horrible odds. My opinion, reserve it for "special" occasions.
That's not how those statistics work at all, so please stop promulgating bad science and bad math. "Less than 1 out of 100 women will get pregnant every year if they always take the pill as directed" does NOT translate into every woman having a 10% chance of getting pregnant over the course of a decade.
posted by scody at 9:58 AM on December 21, 2013 [2 favorites]
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