Broke people making more kids...

[CaliTerp07]

Originally Posted by Lyzelle

Again, charting is completely unreliable. So, no, that didn't help your chances at all. Condom and birth control failure rates are still there, too. You didn't get rid of them by adding more failure rates on top. Birth control is only handed out to non-smoking women under 30 who fit a certain weight and blood pressure criteria.

I don't know where you got this information from. Birth control is absolutely given out to people over 30 years old.

And a 1% (1/100)failure rate on condoms paired with a 1% (1/100)failure rate on birth control (when both are used correctly) creates a .01% failure rate when both used correctly (1/10,000)! Add in the charting failure rate (admittedly less predictable, so let's go with 10% failure rate to be generous), and you're at a 1/100,000 chance of accidental pregnancy. Now, are all those methods used properly? No, so obviously the numbers are a little idealistic. But the bottom line is that you are improving your odds by doubling up on different types of birth control.

So yes, while there is still a risk of an oops, it is significantly less.

[sparks19]

why is no sex not realistic? surely people have some self control no? When there was no way we could make a second child work after Hannah was born... that's what we did. that didn't mean we weren't intimate. We were... often. We just didn't have actual intercourse.

I don't know why "Womans body womans choice" doesn't begin with the choice to have sex in the first place. yes it's fun... but it's fun with possible consequences so make that fun CHOICE wisely.

There are plenty of ways to be intimate and end satisfied without the risk of pregnancy.

Not having a second child at that point in time was priority... over everything so we took whatever measures nessecary to prevent it and that meant no intercourse. We did lots of "other stuff" and our "sex" life was still great and we were as close and as intimate as ever.

if you want to take the risk, go for it. It's your choice but to say no intercourse (by definition) is unattainable makes it sound like people have absolutely no control over themselves when they absolutely do. Just ... be creative lol

and PLEASE don't twist this around as me saying "abstinence only". I am all for birth control. I've been on it plenty of times and plenty of years of my life BUT I also realize they fail so when we knew we could absolutely have another child at that time the only SUREFIRE way to make sure of that was to not have actual sex

[~Jessie~]

Originally Posted by CaliTerp07

I don't know where you got this information from. Birth control is absolutely given out to people over 30 years old.

And a 1% (1/100)failure rate on condoms paired with a 1% (1/100)failure rate on birth control (when both are used correctly) creates a .01% failure rate when both used correctly (1/10,000)! Add in the charting failure rate (admittedly less predictable, so let's go with 10% failure rate to be generous), and you're at a 1/100,000 chance of accidental pregnancy. Now, are all those methods used properly? No, so obviously the numbers are a little idealistic. But the bottom line is that when you are improving your odds by doubling up on different types of birth control.

So yes, while there is still a risk of an oops, it is significantly less.

This!!!

[Romy]

Originally Posted by Lyzelle

Birth control also increases the possibility of vaginal dryness. Which leads to lube. Which leads to the possibility of "not knowing" and getting one that breaks the condom down.

I have nothing to add, except that one of my high school friends was traumatized by his parents when they warned him not to use petroleum jelly as a lube because it breaks down latex, and that's why he was born.

[zoe08]

Originally Posted by Lyzelle

Again, charting is completely unreliable. So, no, that didn't help your chances at all. Condom and birth control failure rates are still there, too. You didn't get rid of them by adding more failure rates on top. Birth control is only handed out to non-smoking women under 30 who fit a certain weight and blood pressure criteria. Most aren't aware of what medications or herbal supplements will render their birth control useless.Not to mention not all women have the type of schedule that does well with consistency, which is what birth control requires. Birth control also increases the possibility of vaginal dryness. Which leads to lube. Which leads to the possibility of "not knowing" and getting one that breaks the condom down.

It's nice to say, oh, you can do this, and that, and this. Women HAVE tried this, and that, and this. Accidents still happen, regardless. And not all women believe in Plan B or early abortion. You can decrease your chances(some), you can't be perfect. And it starts with the doctors office. They need to GIVE information, not just a, "Oh, here's a pill pack". They don't tell you, "Don't take with antibiotics", they don't say, "Oh, be sure to check expiration dates". THAT is the biggest reason why birth control fails. Uneducated women who wouldn't know better regardless.

(Oh, and side note, all that gets worse with Romney in office, as he doesn't believe in sex education, just abstinence only. Yay for more uneducated people have uneducated sex!).

I have NEVER had a doctor prescribe me antibiotics without telling me that it reduces the effectiveness of the pill. My OB reminds me every time I get a new prescription, and the GP that prescribes the antibiotic tells me it and then the pharmacist when I pick it up.

And do people really not ever read the papers that come with their prescriptions? Am I the only person who wants to know about what I'm putting into my body? I am tired of people putting the blame on everyone else. Don't rely on everyone else to educate you, take some responsibility. There is a pamphlet that comes with EVERY single pack of pills, READ IT, then you will know that taking antibiotics reduces the effectiveness of the pill, and so does missing one, or not taking it close to the same time everyday.

[zoe08]

Originally Posted by Lyzelle

Not always. Yaz, for example, juggled me between 2 week cycles and 6 week cycles.

Birth control pills are typically estrogen. IUD AND Deop is progesterone. You absolutely CAN NOT take both and still be covered. It does NOT work that way. Taking both is a "might as well take sugar pills" method. It is either one, or the other. Estrogen or progesterone. Bigger problem at hand?

Not all women respond the same way to both, and that can affect it's efficiency QUITE a bit.

Where did I say AND. READ what I write. I said OR, do I need to bold and underline it for you! It is like you are completely ignoring the fact that you CAN totally use 2 DIFFERENT forms of birth control, HORMONAL is not the ONLY kind of birth control there is.

And the pill (OR IUD OR depo) + condoms is definitely not going to cancel each other out.

Condoms DO NOT cancel out hormonal birth control. Hormanal BC (no matter what kind) + condoms (USED PROPERLY, which you should educate YOURSELF on) = MORE effectiveness

[Romy]

Originally Posted by CaliTerp07

I don't know where you got this information from. Birth control is absolutely given out to people over 30 years old.

And a 1% (1/100)failure rate on condoms paired with a 1% (1/100)failure rate on birth control (when both are used correctly) creates a .01% failure rate when both used correctly (1/10,000)! Add in the charting failure rate (admittedly less predictable, so let's go with 10% failure rate to be generous), and you're at a 1/100,000 chance of accidental pregnancy. Now, are all those methods used properly? No, so obviously the numbers are a little idealistic. But the bottom line is that you are improving your odds by doubling up on different types of birth control.

So yes, while there is still a risk of an oops, it is significantly less.

Something I always wondered about those statistics...

Does a 1% chance mean 1% overall no matter how much sex you have?

Or does a 1% chance mean that every time you get intimate, there is a 1% chance of pregnancy?

If it's the first, that doesn't even make sense. If two people are using the same kind of birth control and one has sex 50 times in 3 months, they're going to have a higher chance of pregnancy than someone using identical birth control who has sex 5 times in 3 months.

And if there's a 1% chance every single time you get intimate, each time independent from the other, then statistically even with birth control you will get pregnant once every 100 times you have sex.


Also, just adding numbers together like that doesn't work in life, because some methods make other methods less reliable and that changes the original data. Like spermicides that degrade condoms, so they have a more than 1% fail rate (and now I say AHA! That's probably what caused ours to break...)

[zoe08]

Originally Posted by Lyzelle

Ugh, you must have missed where the Republicans are cutting funds for Planned Parenthood and attempting to outlaw it.

But they haven't yet, but if people can't figure out how to use planned parenthood, what's the point in funding it anyway? Oh right, so that they have somewhere to go AFTER they get pregnant and can't afford it, instead of trying to prevent it from happening in the first place.

[StillandSilent]

It's often times not as simple as just going to planned parenthood. Depending on your state, they might not get much funding. When I was calling around, no one would put me on birth control without an exam, and even planned parenthood was charging several hundred dollars for one. They get zero state funding here, so they aren't any cheaper then anyone else. And they do not just 'hand out bags of condoms.' The health department will provide free birth control if you are under 18. Over that age and you're on your own.

I would do anything to be sterilized right here, right now. I didn't want the pregnancy I ended up with, and I took plenty of precautions to prevent it. But nature is tricky, which is why we have a lot of these problems to start with.

No, I havne't had sex since that, specifically because I don't want to get pregnant again. But why should I have to do without a normal and natural part of being an adult, just because I lack the funds to get birth control that works?

But apparently I'm not old enough to make that choice (never mind that a male friend was vasectomized four years ago for the exact same reasons I stated, no problem.)

It's sad that the people who cannot afford to have children are the ones with the fewest options for getting birth control to prevent it from happening.

[ACooper]

So far in my experience on this Earth,
There is ALWAYS a choice.....just not always a choice we like.