METHODS OF CONTRACEPTION: COMPARING THE VARIOUS METHODS
A ‘perfect’ method of contraception would be one that was:
• very convenient and easy to use;
• totally safe and didn’t cause any side-effects or medical problems;
• 100 per cent effective (or at least highly effective) at preventing pregnancy.
Unfortunately, no method is perfect. Each method has its particular advantages and disadvantages. Some methods are very convenient to use, but aren’t as safe or effective as others. Other methods are totally safe, but aren’t always as convenient to use or as effective as others. Still other methods are highly effective at preventing pregnancy, but often aren’t as safe as some of the others. In the next few pages we’ll be comparing the different methods in terms of their convenience, their safety and side-effects, and their effectiveness.
Convenience-Methods like sterilization, the IUD and the injectable contraceptive are very convenient. After sterilization, a person needn’t bother about contraception ever again. Once the doctor inserts an IUD, the woman needn’t worry about protection against pregnancy again for three to five years (depending on the type of IUD). A single injection of the injectable contraceptive is good for two to three months.
Other methods are less easy to use. Natural Family Planning (NFP), for instance, requires users to keep temperature charts, to track their menstrual cycles on a calendar and to record daily observations of their cervical mucus. Although some people who use NFP say that it’s really no trouble once you make it part of your daily routine, this method does require more effort than others.
Of course, how convenient a method is often depends on the user. The pill is considered a very convenient, easy-to-use method by most women because all a woman has to do is swallow a pill and remember to take her pills according to schedule. But for women who have trouble remembering to take medications, the pill may be a very difficult method to use. Methods such as the condom, cap, diaphragm and spermicides are also considered convenient by some people, but highly inconvenient by others. For example, some people find it difficult to insert and remove a cap or diaphragm. Some find spermicides messy. Some find these methods difficult to use because they have trouble remembering to keep the devices handy and to use them each and every time they have sex. Some people find them inconvenient because using these methods interrupts their love-making and they feel that having to stop to use the method takes away from the romance of it all. Some find it difficult to use these methods because they are too shy or too embarrassed to tell their partners they need ‘time out’ to put their device in place. However, others incorporate the placing of the device or spermicide into their love-making, don’t feel at all shy about using these methods and don’t have any problems in using them. So, convenience, like beauty, is often in the eye of the beholder.
Convenience is an important consideration because if a person finds a method inconvenient or difficult to use, the chances of he or she using it improperly or neglecting to use it at all are much greater. And, of course, if a method isn’t used properly and consistently, it isn’t going to be effective. If convenience were the only consideration, then people would just pick the most convenient method. But, as we shall see, safety, side effects, and effectiveness are also important considerations.
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