Don't Like the Pill? Try Something Else

For many women, the development of the hormonal birth control pill was like manna straight from heaven. I can prevent unwanted pregnancy with one tiny pill a day? I'm not completely at the mercy of a piece of rubber my partner has to put on? Hallelujah!

But "the pill" doesn't make everybody want to get jiggy with it. Though the pill is on the whole very safe, and women can monitor their own risk factors, some users encounter side effects that make the pill lose its shine. Particularly undesirable is the side effect for some women of lowered libido: why bother being on birth control if then you're not going to even want to have sex?

In a post on the Ms. Magazine blog called, "Hooray for Choice! 10 Birth Control Options Besides 'the Pill,'" Carol King highlights 10 other ways you can prevent unwanted pregnancy. Oh yeah, we're gonna celebrate good times, c'mon.

First up, there's ol' tried and true: the condom. Since it also protects against STDs (bonus!), many people use condoms in addition to another form of birth control. It's great to be twice as safe (just as long as you remember that two condoms aren't better than one). And, of course, there are male and female condoms: the latter is slightly less effective, which is a downside, but a woman can control its use herself, which for some is a major upside.

Number two on the list is an option you might have written off a long time ago, because lots of women have heard horror stories that give it a bad rep: the IUD. While there are definite health risks to the IUD (intrauterine device), given that it's over 99% effective, and all you have to do is get it stuck inside and then go on your merry way for 5 to 12 years, it's worth not immediately writing off.

If the idea of putting a decent sized piece of metal inside you still gives you the willies, a birth control implant is also 99% effective, and lasts up to three years. And it's just a teeny tiny rod that is inserted under the skin of your arm, making it a much less invasive surgical procedure. Or, a depo-provera injection will give you 99-plus percent coverage for three months.

There's patches and vaginal rings; diaphragms and sponges; even sterilization and natural family planning. On that note, I'd like to point out that I highlighted some of the most secure means of birth control above, but many of these alternative forms of contraception — like family planning or the sponge — are significantly less effective at keeping you pregnancy-free (up to 25 to 30% ineffective), so they're definitely not for everybody. If you really, really don't want to get pregnant, rolling the dice with natural family planning or a sponge is not the best idea. So please, be aware. You'll need to balance just how much you don't want to be pregnant with which forms of birth control suit you best.

Happy days! While there's still plenty of room for birth control improve (I'm talking to you, pharmaceutical companies), it's empowering to be reminded that women do have (at least 10) options to peruse.

Check out King's article for more details. And, of course, you'll need to talk with your ob-gyn (or you can ring up a local Planned Parenthood) about which of these methods is your golden ticket to worry-free sex if you want to use just about anything besides a condom.

Photo credit: blmurch