Whats the deal with Birth Control!

First of all I support Birth Control, but I am apposed to abortion. Also it depends on the method of birth control, and why? This is alist of just the facts, and how the debates around this issues are complex. As a male I never really knew all the tereminology, but now I know. Hopefully pro life or pro choice readers of my blog will be able to make up there own minds! I think to many girls in wstern countries are using it just to have fun! But aroound the world like India, its a must!

Reproductive rights refers to rights in all areas of reproduction. This includes issues related to rights to reproduce as well as rights not to reproduce.It is a controversial term, typically used in a context supportive of the choices of pregnant women.

In relation to abortion, supporters of reproductive rights consider it misleading to say that a political leader "supports abortion", when he or she simply supports a woman's right to choose without governmental interference. The term "reproductive rights" is used to describe this position; it is thus synonymous with Pro-Choice when used in this context.

Some of those who oppose the use of the term with regards to abortion claim that such legal protection is an abuse of the term "right" and amounts to a "right to kill the innocent". They also argue that such rights are not guaranteed by a convention such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and have little or no precedent in human history. As such, the term can be considered an example of political framing, as can the more specific terms "Pro-Life" and "Pro-Choice".

Birth control generally refers to any plan or method used to alter or avoid the body's natural state of fertility, thereby preventing or reducing the probability of pregnancy without abstaining from sexual intercourse; the term is also sometimes used to include abortion and natural family planning. The term family planning is normally considered a synonym for the term birth control. Employing techniques to avoid pregnancy resulting from intercourse is called contraception (literally, against conception).



Probably the oldest methods of contraception are coitus interruptus, barrier methods, herbal abortifacients, and attempts to arrange intercourse to coincide with a woman's non-fertile times, colloquially known as the "rhythm method". While it seems as if the rhythm method would have been a good choice, scientists did not figure out the details of the human menstrual cycle until the early 20th century.

Coitus interruptus (withdrawal of the penis from the vagina prior to ejaculation) probably predates any other form of birth control. Once the relationship between the emission of semen into the vagina and pregnancy was known or suspected, some men probably managed to think through the haze of passion and withdraw in time. This is not a particularly reliable method of contraception, as the small amount of fluid secreted prior to ejaculation (pre-ejaculate or "Cowper's fluid") can still contain sperm (this is explained below). However it requires no equipment and is still better than nothing.

Folklore has suggested douching immediately following intercourse as a contraceptive method, and while it seems like a sensible idea to try to wash the ejaculate out of the vagina, it does not work due to the nature of the fluids and the structure of the female reproductive tract -- if anything, douching spreads semen further towards the uterus. Some slight spermicidal effect may occur if the douche solution is particularly acidic, but overall it is not an effective method.


The reason both withdrawal and douching are usually not very effective is that the male ejaculate typically consists of approximately 5ml (1 teaspoon) of fluid carrying in excess of 500,000,000 sperm, of which only one is needed to cause reproduction. Thus even a tiny amount of ejaculate can be more than enough.

Additionally, prior to ejaculation, a man typically releases small amounts of seminal fluid and sperm ("pre-ejaculate") as a result of becoming sexually aroused, during the erection, and while the penis is being stimulated by the vagina during sexual intercourse. It is theorized that pre-ejaculate is in part an attempt by the penis to assist in lubricating the vagina, and as an attempt to ameliorate the acidity of the female vagina and the male urethra (acidity caused by the usual use of the penis to excrete urine). These small amounts of pre-ejaculate can contain more than 30,000 sperm in each drop, and again, only one sperm is needed to cause impregnation.

There are historic records of Egyptian women using a pessary (a vaginal suppository) made of various acidic substances (crocodile dung is alleged) and lubricated with honey or oil, which may have been somewhat effective at killing sperm. However, it is important to note that the sperm cell was not discovered until Anton van Leeuwenhoek invented the microscope in the late 17th century, so barrier methods employed prior to that time could not know of the details of conception. Oriental women may have used oiled paper as a cervical cap, and Europeans may have used beeswax for this purpose. The condom appeared sometime in the 17th century, initially made of a length of animal intestine. It was not particularly popular, nor as effective as modern latex condoms, but was employed both as a means of contraception and in the hopes of avoiding syphilis, which was greatly feared and devastating prior to the discovery of antibiotic drugs.

Various abortifacients have been used throughout human history. Some of these were effective, some were not; those that were most effective also had major side effects. The ingestion of certain poisons by the female can disrupt the reproductive system; women have drunk solutions containing mercury, arsenic, or other toxic substances for this purpose. The Greek gynaecologist Soranus in the 2nd century AD suggested that women drink water that blacksmiths had used to cool metal. The herbs tansy and pennyroyal are well-known in folklore as abortive agents, but these also "work" by poisoning the woman. Levels of the active chemicals in these herbs that will induce a miscarriage are high enough to damage the liver, kidneys, and other organs, making them very dangerous. However, in those times where risk of maternal death from postpartum complications was high, the risks and side effects of toxic medicines may have seemed less onerous. It is also believed that black cohosh tea will also be effective in certain cases as an abortifacient.


There are references in Arabic history to traders inserting a small stone into the uterus of a camel in order to prevent it from conceiving, a concept very similar to the modern IUD, but it seems unlikely that this was used as a contraceptive method for humans since knowledge of the female reproductive tract was very limited until the 20th century, and surgical techniques were poor.

Oral contraceptives did not appear until the mid-20th century, when scientists better understood the process of conception and advances in biochemistry allowed for the isolation (and later synthesis) of the hormones controlling the cycle.