# A pill a day keeps the baby away! EVERY day, dammit! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 23, 2002, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pill-a-day-keeps-the-baby-away-every-day-dammit/120330 "2002-07-23T03:09:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Essured](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Essured](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Essured)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pill-a-day-keeps-the-baby-away-every-day-dammit/120330/61 "2002-07-24T05:49:44Z")
**WV\_Woman,** they are working on a male contraceptive pill. I think they are working on trials in Britian in about four years. I’m not too sure though, as I don’t currently have my sources at hand. I’d say the reason that there is more variety and more new methods on the market for women, is that it is quite often viewed as more of a women’s problem. To be honest, if my husband was taking the male pill, I’d continue my use of the female pill, until we organised a tubal. It’s not because I don’t trust him, it’s just that I’d welcome another backup, but wouldn’t feel comfortable having sex when I wasn’t actively doing something to prevent becoming pregnant. I take it upon myself as my responsibility, and I think (IMHO only) that a lot of women do, too. As to temporary or easily reversable sterilisation for both sexes… stop teasing me, it’s one of my favourite dreams 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pill-a-day-keeps-the-baby-away-every-day-dammit/120330/62 "2002-07-24T05:49:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by WV\_Woman \* > \*\*In my experience, almost no vet will perform an abortion on an animal. \*\* My vet suggested I expose my cat to a male a couple of weeks before bringing her in to be spayed. She said it’s preferable to spay a female in early pregnancy than a female who is in heat. My vet was not only offering to perform an abortion, she was actually suggesting I get my cat pregnant deliberately for the operation. ---
**Author:** ![WV\_Woman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e95f7d/32.png) [@WV\_Woman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WV_Woman)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pill-a-day-keeps-the-baby-away-every-day-dammit/120330/63 "2002-07-24T06:37:47Z")
Wow, caz. Not that I should be surprised. Baby humans are disposable in our society, why shouldn’t baby kittens be? ---
**Author:** ![RexDart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b77776/32.png) [@RexDart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RexDart)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 9:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pill-a-day-keeps-the-baby-away-every-day-dammit/120330/64 "2002-07-24T09:43:36Z")
IIRC, the previous attempts at a male version of the “pill” led to impotency as a side effect. So while that certainly would prevent an unwanted pregnancy, with 100% effectiveness, it kind of defeats the point. I suppose it might make abstinence easier by reducing sex drive, so if somebody wants to fax a memo to Ralph Reed or someone of his ilk, I imagine it could be approved pretty quickly. ---
**Author:** ![istara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e79b87/32.png) [@istara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/istara)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pill-a-day-keeps-the-baby-away-every-day-dammit/120330/65 "2002-07-24T12:18:19Z")
I went through the whole spay/pregnant thing with my half-cat (semi-tamed but not quite adopted feral stray). In the end, I couldn’t quite bear to force her into a basket when she wasn’t fully tame, and she ended up having them somewhere, secretly. I’ve seen her but not the kittens. What made it hardest for me was that she was clearly revelling in her pregnancy, she was docile, affectionate, rolling all over the floor - it was her first pregnancy (I’ve seen her grow up from kittenhood) and I just couldn’t bring myself to intervene. I desperately wanted to get her own kittens to the vet to be spayed, but they must be three months old now and I’ve yet to see them. She comes by for food, but never brings them with her. ---
**Author:** ![Gomez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d78d45/32.png) [@Gomez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gomez)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pill-a-day-keeps-the-baby-away-every-day-dammit/120330/66 "2002-07-24T12:36:59Z")
Great post Velma! I especially liked this part. > [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Velma_ > Abortion is not going to be, and should not be outlawed. Stop trying to make it illegal and instead work to make it unnecessary. > > _\_ > > Pro-choicers: Realize that real pro-lifers are not out bombing clinics and do not support those who do. We are horrified when this happens, same as you. I share your sentiments and could never have hoped to articulate them as well as you just did. Kudos. On the other hand… > [@](#): > > _Originally vomited by xyzzy_ > > Tell the little antichoice arsewits to… > > GET RAILED! Care to take that sentiment to Great Debates where several vile antichoice demon spawn (myself included) will hand your arse to you on a plate? It shouldn’t be too difficult, judging by your grammar, syntax and the overly emotional ‘rhetoric to reason’ ratio in your post, you don’t appear too bright. ---
**Author:** ![QueenAl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/d26b3c/32.png) [@QueenAl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QueenAl)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pill-a-day-keeps-the-baby-away-every-day-dammit/120330/67 "2002-07-24T13:16:08Z")
I got pregnant while taking the pill - but not because I forgot to take, I was sick (vomitting and diarrhoea, which later turned out to be amoebic dysentry). Unsurprisingly, the sickness flushed the pill out of my system before it could work, and also unsurprisingly, I wasn’t thinking all that clearly at the time and didn’t consider this. I had also heard that if you’ve been on the pill for a long time (four years), then it can take a while to get pregnant, and so I thought well, I’m not going to get pregnant … Afterwards I continued to be extremely sick for a couple of months, continued to take the pill, continued to have ‘spotting’ which I took for periods, and continued, unknowingly, to be pregnant. I had an abortion at 15 weeks, mainly because after all that this would not have been a healthy baby. A year later, I started seeing someone, and started back on the pill. We also used a condom just in case (I’d only _just_ started on the pill, and it takes a while to be fully effective). It broke - this does happen - but this was only a day after my period, so I couldn’t get pregnant, right? Regardless, I did. I’m obviously extremely bloody fertile. This time I did not have an abortion, partly because the first one traumatised me so deeply. So yes, I’d agree, the only 100% foolproof method of contraception is to not have sex. Or to finally admit you’re gay and only have sex with your own gender. That seems to work for me. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ouisey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9fc29f/32.png) [@ouisey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouisey)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pill-a-day-keeps-the-baby-away-every-day-dammit/120330/68 "2002-07-24T13:23:24Z")
Cazzle, my stray has already had a litter of kittens at the neighbor’s house. I can’t believe they didn’t take care of her at the time. They just turned her out when the kittens were weaned. Now she’s pregnant again and the night before last she fell asleep in my closet…! I can’t have her have kittens in here…I’m going on holiday in two weeks. I’ve been ringing round to all the shelters I know of in Kansas City, trying to find one who will take in a pregnant cat. I don’t know what to do. ---
**Author:** ![lurkernomore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@lurkernomore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lurkernomore)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pill-a-day-keeps-the-baby-away-every-day-dammit/120330/69 "2002-07-24T14:02:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Goo \* > \*\* > > I’d say the reason that there is more variety and more new methods on the market for women, is that it is quite often viewed as more of a women’s problem. \*\* More it’s a numbers game. You have to stop an egg from meeting a sperm cell and implanting. Women usually release one or two eggs at a time. (2 sperms meet 2 eggs - fraternal twins). Men release several MILLION sperm. You’d have to stop EVERY one. Easier to stop the 1 egg from implanting. There are other issues (libido, etc) with the men, but it is largely the sheer number. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pill-a-day-keeps-the-baby-away-every-day-dammit/120330/70 "2002-07-24T15:00:13Z")
Sorry to repeat myself, but this is unsettling. The original premise: WV\_Woman: “The only way to keep the stork away is to not do it to begin with.” Seems reasonable. But instead of the usual, well, that’s not realistic, sometimes you get carried away, etc., it’s: The Devil’s Grandmother: “your theory doesn’t work when your date is holding you down on the couch. Or for married women whose husbands believe “I do” means “I will” at any moment for the rest of their lives. Sex happens, sometimes when you don’t want it to.” and jwhee: “1. besides abstinance, you could have tubal litigation, or a complete hysterectomy. both , do beleive , are 100% effective, even if raped.” I’m probably overreacting, but this is bizarre that I can’t just rely on abstinence. I know the chances of my being raped are not negligible but do I really have to think about birth control in relation to that possibility? I have never had children so I don’t think I would be able to get a tubal ligation or hysterectomy on demand, electively if you will. I guess this just makes me sad, that this is part of the thought process. I could see, well, I’m already on birth control so that’s good if God forbid I am raped. But if I am abstinent, I have to also think, what if I am raped? ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pill-a-day-keeps-the-baby-away-every-day-dammit/120330/71 "2002-07-24T16:06:56Z")
Good grief. I certainly hope there aren’t women out there who are ingesting hormones every day even though they aren’t having sex, just in case they get raped. To me, that seems kind of like refusing to leave your house because of the chance of getting hit with a meteor. I mean, I have no problem with the birth control pill per se, but it does have certain effects on the body, some of which can be negative (in my case, hideous mood swings), and why would you want to do that for no reason? **Heloise** : It would be extremely difficult to the point of impossibility for you to conceive two days before your period starts, anyway. After a woman ovulates, the egg hangs around for 24 hours or so, and then, if unfertilized, passes from the fallopian tubes. At this point, your body says, “OK, guess it isn’t going to happen this month,” and slows down progesterone production. Sometime later (typically between 11 and 14 days) you get your period. This period of time is called the “luteal phase.” Women who have a shorter than average luteal phase sometimes have trouble getting pregnant, but I’ve never heard of anyone with a luteal phase of only 2-3 days. And, as **cercaria** pointed out, once you are pregnant, you no longer shed your uterine lining. If you did, you would no longer be pregnant. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pill-a-day-keeps-the-baby-away-every-day-dammit/120330/72 "2002-07-24T17:29:55Z")
I have definitely had at least one friend who continued to bleed at regular intervals after becoming pregnant. I guess it wasn’t her period but she was fooled by this “period-like” bleeding and didn’t know she were pregnant until ~five months into it. MsWhatsit, I don’t think anyone is either. I just found it odd that the argument against abstinence=100% progressed from “you might lose control” to “you might be raped.” ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pill-a-day-keeps-the-baby-away-every-day-dammit/120330/73 "2002-07-24T17:44:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ouisey \* > \*\*I got pregnant because I kept on forgetting to take my pill. I’m not an idjit. I’m just forgetful about “petty” things like that. > \*\* Wow. Not too many people would go so far as to call an unwanted/unplanned pregnancy “petty”. Yes, I realize that the post was refering to taking the pills as petty. But when that “petty” thing leads to a baby, it ain’t petty no more. ---
**Author:** ![artemis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/91b2a8/32.png) [@artemis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/artemis)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pill-a-day-keeps-the-baby-away-every-day-dammit/120330/74 "2002-07-24T17:52:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by lurkernomore \* > \*\* > > More it’s a numbers game. You have to stop an egg from meeting a sperm cell and implanting. Women usually release one or two eggs at a time. (2 sperms meet 2 eggs - fraternal twins). > > Men release several MILLION sperm. You’d have to stop EVERY one. > > Easier to stop the 1 egg from implanting. > > There are other issues (libido, etc) with the men, but it is largely the sheer number. \*\* Also, female fertility is cyclical, and is designed to be periodically interrupted (by pregnancy). Male fertility (in humans - it can be different in non-human mammals with a rutting season) is continuous; although sperm production slows a bit as a man ages, it never truly stops. It’s much easier to interrupt the cyclical female cycle than the continuous male cycle, thus making effective birth control choices more varied for women. ---
**Author:** ![ouisey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9fc29f/32.png) [@ouisey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouisey)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pill-a-day-keeps-the-baby-away-every-day-dammit/120330/75 "2002-07-24T19:42:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by adam yax \* > \*\* > > Wow. Not too many people would go so far as to call an unwanted/unplanned pregnancy “petty”. > > Yes, I realize that the post was refering to taking the pills as petty. But when that “petty” thing leads to a baby, it ain’t petty no more. \*\* Oh for god’s sake. That’s why I put it in quotation marks. It actually is a very important thing to remember…one of those small things that make all the difference. Like remembering to stop at a red light and go when its green. ---
**Author:** ![vanilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f19dbf/32.png) [@vanilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vanilla)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pill-a-day-keeps-the-baby-away-every-day-dammit/120330/76 "2002-07-24T20:16:06Z")
Well, I am on the pill solely to stop my former hideous cramps. And its worked! yay! There are no side effects for me, thankfully. I hope to be on it til I go thru “the change.” ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pill-a-day-keeps-the-baby-away-every-day-dammit/120330/77 "2002-07-24T20:32:57Z")
I’m with Cranky. Back when I really really didn’t want kids I never missed my pill. Then I went off them and spent years trying to get pregnant. After giving up, had a surprise pregnancy. Now I’m back on the pill, but have the darn’dest time remembering to take them. But part of it is my passive aggressive nature - after the baby was born my husband was suppose to “take care of it” and never did. Part of it is two young children at home. Part of it is suspecting that I am so sub-fertile that it doesn’t make too much difference anyway. He finally has - and in a month or so I get to stop worrying about it. My understanding on male birth control is that it has been short on funding, in addition to some of the other problems. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pill-a-day-keeps-the-baby-away-every-day-dammit/120330/78 "2002-07-24T23:36:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by WV\_Woman \* > \*\*Wow, caz. > > Not that I should be surprised. Baby humans are disposable in our society, why shouldn’t baby kittens be? \*\* I was told that kittens have a thirty percent survival rate-I’ll look it up later-right now, I have a killer headache. Also, the world is completely over run by stray cats. It’s better than having to have them put down later. Honestly. It sucks…but I’d rather see them get rid of kitty fetuses than kitty babies. ---
**Author:** ![lezlers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/258eb7/32.png) [@lezlers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lezlers)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pill-a-day-keeps-the-baby-away-every-day-dammit/120330/79 "2002-07-24T23:56:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MsWhatsit \* > \*\ ***Heloise** : It would be extremely difficult to the point of impossibility for you to conceive two days before your period starts, anyway. \*\* I always had it drilled into my head throughout multiple sex-ed classes that a woman could get pregnant ANY time. Even while she was ON her period. She may not be able to carry it to term, but as far as conception goes, if you have sex, you can get pregnant. Was I mislead? ---
**Author:** ![Phouchg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/41988e/32.png) [@Phouchg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phouchg)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2002, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pill-a-day-keeps-the-baby-away-every-day-dammit/120330/80 "2002-07-25T01:50:36Z")
Man, this is too complex for me. I’m just gonna go get a vasectomy ☹ Phouchg Lovable Rogue [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pill-a-day-keeps-the-baby-away-every-day-dammit/120330.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pill-a-day-keeps-the-baby-away-every-day-dammit/120330.md?page=5)