??? If she was on the patch, then she should not have been ovulating at all.
If I was convinced that it was safe and there were no side-effects, this would be my answer, too.
Mrs Butler & I are working on making babies at the moment, so it wouldn’t be appropriate for me NOW. Once 'lil Butler #2 arrives, she’ll get the snip with the c-section, so it won’t be an issue THEN.
But… if it had been around when I was single & fancy-free, I’d have been on it in a minute, regardless of whatever my bedmate was/wasn’t on at the time.
More options for birth control = better.
Her on the pill, him on the pill, all good IMO.
What he said. In, like, a quarter of a second.
I wouldn’t trust myself to take it consistently every day and to remember if I had taken it.
Before I answer, do they come in suppositories? Just curious.
Nope. I’ve been married 11 years and have two little boys. It wouldn’t bother me a bit to have 10 more kids. (I’ll figure out some way to pay for it.) In my book, contraception is up to the person who doesn’t want to have kids. For that reason I’ll never get “snipped,” or use any kind of contraceptive. My wife knew this when we got married, and is fine with it AFAIK. Right now she has a IUD. That’s her choice, and I’m fine with that.
Before getting married, I doubt if I would have used it either. I was never concerned about having kids because I always knew I’d take responsibility for them. For that reason I tried to be selective about a partner, and totally left it up to her for the pill, or whatever. This probably puts me in the minority.
Ehh, chances are if I need the b.c., I need a condom too. Given the risk of pregnancy is so small with a condom, I’d be hesitant to take a drug that’s largely redundant and can’t protect me against STDs.
The “As long as there are absolutely no side effects” camp cracks me up.
When women sit down with their doctors to determine the best course of birth control, we look for the side effects that will be easiest for us to manage based on our individual lifestyles and needs. Not having any potential side effects is all but a fairytale for us when it comes to birth control pills or implants.
It seems pretty clear to me that if you take something that interfere’s with your body’s natural process, you’re definitely assuming the risk of a potential side effect somewhere. I only hope that the men who would shirk this opportunity for an added layer of protection based on minor side effects are steadfast in their condom use or completely celibate. Expecting your partner to withstand side effects that you yourself would not be willing to accept seems a bit off to me.
That scenario calls for condoms anyway, though, since neither party has any reason to feel absolutely confident that their partner is free from STDs. I think you can take it as a given that if a couple is considering pharmaceutical-only contraception, the odds are that their level of trust is somewhat higher than that of your average drunken one-night stand.
If I’m the guy in that scenario, I’m instantly sobered by the alarming news that the woman I’ve picked up is enthusiastic about casual sex and willing to go bare-back on the strength of a promise.
Talk about a boner-killer!
I’d sure consider it- my girlfriend’s on the pill, and we’re using condoms anyway as a redundancy. If it wasn’t too expensive (or Planned Parenthood didn’t cover it, and I suspect they’ll jump on board the minute it’s legal) and the side effects aren’t too bad, I’ll consider this as a suspenders-and-belt measure. I may wait a few months at least after it’s legal, though, to see what class-action lawsuits crop up. Then again, I’m in a long-term relationship where we both know we’re clean- condoms would remain standard operating procedure if we’re talking about casual sex.
You know, I always sort of assumed the same thing, but what with the vast number of conversations I have daily with women who’s partners absolutely refuse to use condoms–many of these conversations with women happen during pregnancy testing counsels–I have really come to solidly believe that one of the following must be true: 1) the concept of the consequences of unintended pregnancy is a distant and nebulous thing to an astounding number of young men. For many young women as well, and since my pool is 100% self-selectingly biased towards women who have had sought contraceptive or pregnancy counselling I can’t say it’s more true for men than women. 2) Maybe the man in question was seeking pregnancy and actively wanted his parter to be pregnant? 3) He doesn’t care and assumes he can deny it’s his or disappear.
It’s an interesting conversation to have with the young men who come to the clinic for STI testing. Encouraging condom use due to the potential for STDs doesn’t very often seem to cause any interest or alarm–they’ve heard the lecture forever and learned to tune it out. Encouraging condom use by telling them how often we see young pregnant women, that they shouldn’t leave their future in anyone’s hands but their own, and that they have absolutely no power in the situation once she becomes pregnant–continue the pregnancy or terminate, it’s 100% her choice, right or wrong–seems to at least make them think. Guys, how could you refuse to wear condoms unless you’ve actively accepted the practical inevitability for being a father, or had a conversation with your partner about her stance on abortion? Even if you have a long-term partner and believe that she’s using a birth control method, she may be seeking pregnancy and not telling you, she may be forgetful or not fully educated on how to use her birth control method or ever had exposure to contraceptive sex ed, and she may be using it perfectly and just be one of the “lucky” 1%. For random, casual encounters a refusal to use condoms is mind-boggling. No matter why it happens, unintended pregnancy happens way more often than it should in this country, and in this day and age, and I always find it a little dumbfounding when a guy tells me that he has lots of random sexual partners and never uses condoms–quite aside from the STD discussion.
Sorry, this turned into a tangent, but was really meant to say that Mr Armadillo’s decision to use the male pill would be directly related to how much he did or did not want to participate in pregnancy, regardless of what my method of birth control is. Best case scenario with my current method of birth control there’s about a 1% failure rate. We aren’t at this point in our lives desiring pregnancy, so if there’s something he can do to reduce that 1% even further, and it doesn’t involve withdrawal or condoms like it does now, sure he’d use the pill.
As rubberpiggy pointed out, the primary way hormonal birth control works is by suppressing ovulation. The whole “two weeks before her period” count only works if she’s not on any birth control, and not very well at that. Kudos for trying to do your part, and overcaution is certainly better than the reverse, but still wanted to fight the ignorance ;).
Or, of course, 4) both partners have discussed and are comfortable with the option of abortion in the failure of her primary birth control method, or the 85% chance of pregnancy within a year without any method.