Ah, birth control. Sure, being able to control when you can and can’t get pregnant has been a massive net win for my fellow wombmates – but that doesn’t mean using contraceptives is for everyone.
Factors like side effects and inconvenience can put people off taking the pill, the UK’s most popular form of birth control, or from using condoms or IUDs.
And while it looks like most of us are doing something right, birth control-wise – emergency contraceptive use in the UK has been reliably falling year-on-year – as many as 13% of us are relying on the unreliable pull-out method as our main form of birth control.
This comes from women’s health app Flo’s research, which also found “56% of women do not currently use any form of contraception. Among those who do, 37% use the pill, 29% use the male condom, and nearly a fifth (19%) use an intrauterine device”.
Here’s what Dr. Adiele Hoffman, medical advisor at women’s health app Flo, has to say on the messy matter:
Pulling out can definitely get you pregnant
Though your partner might pull out before they ejaculate, Hoffman says, you can still get pregnant from pre-cum – and while she says that “Research shows that some people produce pre-ejaculate fluid that contains sperm while others don’t”, there’s no way of knowing if your partner does or not.
You don’t need to be ovulating to become impregnated, either. Hoffman warns “Be aware, pre-ejaculate fluid can lead to pregnancy even if sex doesn’t happen during ovulation.”
She adds that “This is possible because sperm can survive in the female reproductive tract for up to five days. And if sperm are still alive when ovulation begins, conception can occur.”
You won’t be protected from STIs, either
Even if your pull-out method actually does prevent your partner from ejaculating inside you – and there’s not guarantee it will – the method offers no protection from STIs.
“Many STIs, like herpes or genital warts, can spread via skin-to-skin contact”, says Hoffman.
“Moreover, chlamydia and gonorrhoea can be transmitted by fluid from the penis before ejaculation. The most effective way to protect against STIs is to use a condom.”
Insist on using the pull-out method? Make your partner pee first
Most of us have heard about the importance of people with vaginas peeing after sex, but health experts at Flo recommend asking your partner to pee before unprotected sex, too.
In this case, it’s done in order to “clear out any sperm” that might be lingering in their urethra.
The pros also prescribe a thorough clean-up afterwards, advising users of the pull-out method to “ensure there is no semen on your upper thighs or groin. Sperm in these areas of your body could migrate down a fluid passageway toward your vagina.”
Of course, the best advice is to use a different form of contraceptive.
“If you want to avoid getting pregnant and catching an STI, the safest option would be using a condom and pulling out simultaneously”, health experts from Flo say.
In other words, it looks like up to 13% of us should seriously reconsider pulling away from our favourite method of contraception ASAP.