contraception

• Contraception

  The prevention of pregnancy
• Hormonal/chemical contraceptives

  • Oral contraceptives (the pill) containing hormones (oestrogen, progesterone) to inhibit FSH production so no eggs mature
  • Injection/implant/skin patch of slow release progesterone to inhibit maturation and release of eggs for months/years
  • Intrauterine devices which prevent the implantation of an embryo or release a hormone
  • Spermicidal agents which kill/disable sperm
• Barrier contraceptives

  • Condom
  • Diaphragm - prevent sperm reaching egg
• Natural contraceptions

  • Abstaining from intercourse when egg may be in oviduct
• Surgical contraceptions

  • Male sterilisation (vasectomy)
  • Female sterilisation
• Oral contraceptive (the pill)

  • Highly effective if used correctly (taken everyday at same time), easy to use, convenient but easy to forget to take so pregnancy risk increases, does not protect against STIs, side effects such as increased breast cancer/blood clots but risk is small
• Injection/implant/skin patch contraceptives

  • Longer lasting so more convenient than daily pill, don't protect against STIs eg HIV
• IUD/intrauterine device


  • Highly effective, prevent pregnancy for up to 10 years, very few side effects, does not protect against STIs
• Spermicide agents

  • Readily available, not very effective, shouldn't be used on their own, more effective if used with condom/diaphragm
• Condoms/diaphragms


  • No side effects because no hormones involved, condoms reduce risk of STIs however can tear/slip off
• Abstinence

  • Hard to tell when woman has ovulated so risky, no protection against STIs, no side effects
• Sterilisation

  • Effective, non-reversible, permanent so convenient, no protection against STIs
• Why issues around contraception cannot be answered by science alone

  Catholic church teaches all contraception is unethical except natural methods, others believe it's a person's right to choose, benefits of contraception include preventing unwanted pregnancies or pregnancies that may lead to risks to the mother's health or pregnancies that have occurred as a result of rape, counter-arguments involve ethical and religious concerns about making decisions that may or may not lead to life
• Although fertility treatment gives a woman the chance to have a baby

  of her own:

  • it is very emotionally and physically stressful

  • the success rates are not high

  • it can lead to multiple births which are a risk to both the babies and

  the mother.
• Use of hormones in modern reproductive technologies to treat infertility

  1. Give FSH and LH in a 'fertility drug' to a woman with naturally low levels

  2. Woman may then become pregnant in the normal way
• In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) treatment

  1. Mother given FSH and LH to stimulate maturation of several eggs

  2. Eggs collected from mother and fertilised by father's sperm in lab

  3. Fertilised eggs develop into embryos

  4. At stage when they are tiny balls of cells, Insert one or two embryos into mother's uterus (womb)