# pregnancy rates when drunk **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 6, 1999, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pregnancy-rates-when-drunk/2361 "1999-08-06T15:07:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BurnMeUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@BurnMeUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BurnMeUp)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 1999, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pregnancy-rates-when-drunk/2361/1 "1999-08-06T15:07:00Z")
I have an odd question. I have noticed a lot of women happen to get pregnant a lot after one night stands that happen while drinking. Now any of us who try to get pregnant the old fasioned way know that it’s difficult if not impossible somethimes. Could there be a link between an alcohol level and pregnancy risks? Like maybe a decrease in the cervical mucous viscosity or something. Seems odd but possible. * * * To deal with men by force is as impractical as to deal with nature by persuasion. ---
**Author:** ![EnigmaOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@EnigmaOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EnigmaOne)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 1999, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pregnancy-rates-when-drunk/2361/2 "1999-08-06T15:18:00Z")
{{{Could there be a link between an alcohol level and pregnancy risks? }}}—BurnMeUp I think I’ll do without the tequila today–just in case. * * * – **Kalél** (The Original **EnigmaOne** ) ---
**Author:** ![Alphagene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Alphagene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alphagene)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 1999, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pregnancy-rates-when-drunk/2361/3 "1999-08-06T15:32:00Z")
I know a lot of women who have had one-night stands while drunk and none of them have gotten pregnant. Maybe your sample isn’t a fair cross-section. Then again, maybe mine isn’t either. I doubt there’s a direct correlation. Then all the couples trying to conceive out there just need to get hammered. Assuming your observation is valid, BMU, my guess would be that drunk women (drunk anybody, really) are less likely to have protected sex. Even if safe sex is attempted, it’s probably less likely to be administered properly with an inebriated couple. ---
**Author:** ![BurnMeUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@BurnMeUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BurnMeUp)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 1999, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pregnancy-rates-when-drunk/2361/4 "1999-08-06T15:36:00Z")
But unprotected sex is not the only issue. I just have seen that people who are drunkenly cavorting have a higher pregnancy rates than health concous people trying to conceive. Obviously both would be having unprotected sex if getting pregnant. Why would it seem that the single drunk people get pregnant more often than married couples? I realize i am omitting many possibl;e data areas, i am just curious if this could have ean effect. * * * To deal with men by force is as impractical as to deal with nature by persuasion. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 1999, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pregnancy-rates-when-drunk/2361/5 "1999-08-06T16:45:00Z")
There is a phenomenon at work here, it has a name which I don’t recall. Basically: You only notice it when it happens. That is to say, when couples try to get pregnat and do (happens all the time) you don’t notice. When people trying not to get pregnant remain in the childless condition, you don’t notice. But when the people trying _not_ to get knocked up do, and the people yearning for kids can’t, you notice. Cecil used this argument in his “Why do the streetlights turn on when I walk by” cxolumn. * * * This space intentionally left blank ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 1999, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pregnancy-rates-when-drunk/2361/6 "1999-08-06T16:45:00Z")
BurnMeUp, could you site your sources on just who said that? Frankly, I don’t believe it at all. ---
**Author:** ![BurnMeUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@BurnMeUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BurnMeUp)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 1999, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pregnancy-rates-when-drunk/2361/7 "1999-08-06T16:48:00Z")
Actually handy I didn’t say anyone said that I was asking if it was possible. * * * To deal with men by force is as impractical as to deal with nature by persuasion. ---
**Author:** ![BunnyGirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@BunnyGirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BunnyGirl)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 1999, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pregnancy-rates-when-drunk/2361/8 "1999-08-06T16:53:00Z")
My opinion is thus: 1. Alcohol lowers your inhabitions so the single woman is more likely to have a one-night stand with unprotected sex. 2. The married couples I know don’t go out and get drunk and party as often as single folks. Sounds like science to me. * * * And can it be that in a world so full and busy, the loss of one weak creature makes a void in any heart, so wide and deep that nothing but the width and depth of vast eternity can fill it up! -Charles Dickens “Dombey and Son” ---
**Author:** ![Suzeanne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@Suzeanne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suzeanne)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 1999, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pregnancy-rates-when-drunk/2361/9 "1999-08-06T19:43:00Z")
Oh yeah? Well, what about us married and monogamous women that have kids as a result of being hammered? Wait … does that mean we were just drunk enough to stop saying no to our spouses? Never mind. Carry on. ---
**Author:** ![BurnMeUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@BurnMeUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BurnMeUp)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 1999, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pregnancy-rates-when-drunk/2361/10 "1999-08-06T19:46:00Z")
suzanne? I wasn’t saying anything of the sort. * * * To deal with men by force is as impractical as to deal with nature by persuasion.