Basically? Yeah, you were misled. A woman is only fertile for about one day out of the month, when she ovulates. Sperm can live inside a woman’s body for at least five days, so if we put these together we can say that there are about six days out of the month when sex can lead to conception.
The problem is, human females, unlike the females of other species, don’t give off any I’M FERTILE!!! signals. So you can’t look at a woman and say she’s about to ovulate. (Some women know themselves, but most don’t.)
Now, ovulation occurs fourteen days before a woman’s menstrual period starts. This is of course not very helpful if you’re trying to prevent - or increase the chances of - conception. However, it does show why it’s unlikely a woman would conceive just before her menstrual period. She’d be ovulating for the second time in only two weeks! Very unusual. It does happen, rarely, that a woman ovulates while she’s still menstruating, so it’s not impossible to get pregnant on your period, but it’s not common, either.
As far as the bit about “she may not carry to term”, I don’t know what they were trying to get at there. Most fertilized eggs don’t result in babies, as it happens, but the timing of ovulation isn’t relevant there.
Flodnak, I agree with you on the science, but I did fall pregnant the day after my period (and since that was the last time I had sex with a man, I’m certain of the timing). So I’d say that any time of the month is risky.
When I was a teenager a few girls I knew in school were on Accutane, an acne medication. Their doctors would only prescribe it for them after they got on the Pill.
Accutane causes horrible birth defects and I guess they figured in the event of rape, it could lead to a really bad situation.
Egg releases on day 13. Its is “ripe” only for 24 - 48 hours (although don’t count on it - could be twice that). Sperm lives about five days, can take five days to reach the egg (fast little swimmers can reach the end of the tube in something like twelve hours). Egg takes a couple of days to travel down the tube. Peak time to have sex for pregnancy is the day before you ovulate. There should be sperm right there as the egg is released and ripe.
Here’s the problem with timing the cycle. The typical cycle is 28 days - but some women have non-typical cycles. It isn’t unheard of to have fairly regular 15 day cycles (wouldn’t that suck!) And some women aren’t too regular. So this month 28 days, last month 24 days, next month 32 days - get a really short month and you can get pregnant easily the day after your period. And even a women who has a clockwork cycle can get thrown for a loop when stress or hormones or who knows what else comes into play.
So if you are going to time your cycle, you have to know when you are about to ovulate and avoid sex (or have it, depending on what outcome you are looking for) for a couple days before and a couple days after. Its easy to figure out when you ovulated after your period comes (count back 13 days - and it was somewhere within about 24-48 hours of there), but hard for most women to know before they ovulate that they are about to release an egg (even the ones that get ovulation cramping get it as the egg is released - not 24 hours before).
Get a hardier than average egg - a particularly hardy sperm - a cycle off by a day or two, right place at the right time (or wrong place at the wrong time) and someone will be calling you mommy.
I’ve always suspected that my super fertile “we get pregnant every time we try” girlfriend is a case of properly balanced hormones, hardy eggs, hubby with hardy sperm and a high sperm count and good compatible genes. My husband and I on the other hand - he had less than ample, less than fast and less than hardy sperm (but sufficient - not infertile), I have a delicately balanced hormone level that makes implantation difficult.
A good book for how this whole thing works is “Taking Charge of Your Fertility” This is from memory - and a little dated - I did the fertility thing over five years ago now.
So, for most women, the day after their last period is about day six or seven. Give a hardy sperm five days to live and you get to day 12. Short cycle (25 days that month instead of 28) and bingo.
I also had a friend who counted on the “I know when I ovulate, a woman can only get pregnant a couple of days out of the month” form of birth control, and low and behold, she’s due next month…
So while it’s “unlikely” a woman can get pregant while on her period it is still possible. Therefore, when told by numorous nurses, doctors, obgyn’s and sex educators, that it is possible to get pregnant at any time of the month, I was not actually mislead, because there is truth.
Personally, I prefer being overly cautious as a result of my education, to having an “accident” happen as a result of being told i’m only fertile one day out of the month. I can’t help but think that if that was what was taught in sex ed classes, we’d have slews of teenage girls counting days on their calanders saying to themselves “i’m safe from here to…HERE! Comon’ Bobby, let’s go!” And trust me, I’ve interacted with many teenage girls who would actually do this…
I think its possible to do natural family planning successfully. Unfortuately, it isn’t simple as counting days. It involves charting your tempurature EVERY MORNING. It involves checking and charting your cervical mucus EVERY MORNING. And even then, it involves a level of awareness of your body and control that can be difficult (fairly stable sleep cycles so your basal body temp changes can be detected - knowing whether that change in temp was a cold or ovulation - taking care of that yeast infection so it won’t mask changes in your mucus - not having sex if your stress level is too high because that might change any patterns you are accustomed to.
I think the biggest problem people who count days have is saying that they can only get pregnant " a couple days a month." In truth, even if going the NFP route, that couple days is more like a full week. That and underestimating their own fertility - one of my girlfriends got pregnant at 40 - willingly, but she didn’t really expect it to happen - after all, everyone else she knew had problems when they waited that long.
Not just for rape. Accutane has a “black box” warning for pregnancy, and it is Category X, which means it is known to cause birth defects. In fact, in the product information, this information is first, and it states that the patient “must be capable of complying with the mandatory contraceptive measures required for Accutane therapy and understand behaviors associated with an increased risk of pregnancy.” So, ultimately, it’s a manufacturer’s requirement.
There are a number of behaviors besides penetration that can lead to pregnancy, and teenagers do them in the belief that they can’t or won’t get pregnant. Requiring teens to go on an absolute form of contraception when a dangerous drug is involved isn’t a bad idea.
Mr. Honey and I have been using natural family planning for the 13 years we’ve been married. 10 years ago we decided it was time for a baby and we conceived on our first try. Little Honey is a sweetie pie.
In order to use this method you must know your body very well and be able to read the signs of ovulation. For me it begins about 4 days after my period ends. There is a slippery discharge for a few days followed by cramping for 2 days. Once all of these signs are gone I know I’m safe. I would never, ever recommend this method to anyone else, just saying that it works well for us.
By the way, I have an extremely regular cycle, 28 days, I could set my watch based on my cycle.
Its also possible that the doctors were aware that some perfectly good “I’d never have sex” girls are known to fall madly in love and find their values have changed within mere months of giving them the perscription. So it may have been less of “in case of rape” and more of “in case you change your mind about sex and don’t come and let me know before you do.”
(Not to mention that not all sexually active girls are honest with adults about their sexual activity or intended future sexual activity)
