Tag: birth control

Q: Does sex during a period prevent pregnancy?

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Q: Can I have sex without protection while my girlfriend is on her period and she won’t get pregnant? 

A: No!  When a female has a period it means she didn’t get pregnant last month.  It doesn’t say anything about what will happen in the month to come.  Having intercourse during a period is NOT a way to prevent pregnancy (or STDs for that matter).   Some females are fertile (able to get pregnant) during the periods and some aren’t.  There isn’t any easy way to tell which females are fertile during their periods and which aren’t.  Also, teenage females rarely have perfectly regular menstrual cycles.  They can vary quite a bit in length, which means sometimes they are fertile during their periods and sometimes they aren’t.

As you can see, periods aren’t a way to determine when it’s a “safe” time to have intercourse if a couple does not want to get pregnant.

Best Ways Not to Get Pregnant

avernacchio /

Q: How can I like for sure make sure I don’t get pregnant during sex?

A: This is not meant to be a snarky answer at all, but the only absolutely 100% effective way not to get pregnant is not to have vaginal intercourse.  There are plenty of other things couples can do to give and receive sexual pleasure that don’t carry the risk of pregnancy.  This is sometimes called “Outercourse” (as opposed to intercourse – get it?).  Here’s a good website from Planned Parenthood that talks about outercourse.

If two people are going to have vaginal intercourse, there are many, many excellent options for pregnancy prevention (also called birth control).  Some birth control is available over-the-counter in a drug store, like condoms and spermicidal foams and creams.  The most effective methods of birth control require a prescription from a doctor or other health professional.   You can’t get them in a store.  Here’s another excellent website from Planned Parenthood that explains all the available methods of birth control.

One last thing, I answered a question on this blog called “What’s the Right Age for Intercourse?”  You should also look at that question.  There’s a lot more to sexual health than just knowing what kind of birth control to use.  I don’t think most 9th graders are really ready to be having vaginal intercourse.  See what you think after you read my answer to this question.

Q: Morning After Pill

avernacchio /

Q: Can you get pregnant even if you took a Plan B pill a day after sex?

A: The short answer is yes, but your chances of getting pregnant are greatly reduced.  Plan B is about 95% effective in preventing pregnancy when taken within 1 day of having unprotected vaginal intercourse.   Its effectiveness decreases each day after that.

The reason why it’s not 100% effective is that Emergency Contraception (like Plan B) works by stopping ovulation (the releasing of an egg cell from the ovary).  If there’s no egg cell in the system, there’s no way to get pregnant.  But, if a woman has ovulated before she takes Plan B that egg will not be stopped and can be fertilized by a sperm cell.