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"50% of women get pregnant while on contraception"


confusedgirly

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On the news this morning I heard that studies show 50% of women get pregnant while on some form of contraception. about 44% of this is while on the pill, 20% while on condomns and 21% of some other form of contraception.

 

So that's a 1 in 2 chance of getting pregnant while on contraception. I'm posting because I have been on and off the Pill since I was 18, and am now 22 and a half and never ONCE did I have a pregnancy scare. The Pill works like a charm for me, I always get my period exactly on time (even down to the hour). I had an ultrasound once for something not exactly related and she said the pill was working fine cos the lining of my uterus was thin.

 

I'm just worried a bit... because since I never concieved once like 50% of the female population on the contraception does this mean that I'm not so fertile??

 

Note: I rarely get sick and when I do it's a cold and requires no antibiotics and I always take the pill at the same time every day and NEVER get diarhorrea and vomitting.

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The Pill works like a charm for me, I always get my period exactly on time (even down to the hour).

 

It's not that contraception doesn't work, it is that people don't apply or use contraception properly.

 

The failure rate on the pill WHEN USED ACCORDING TO INSTRUCTIONS is miniscule.

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I don't think the percentage that 50% of women got pregnant while on contraception means that contraception thereforeeee fails 50% of the time - the two stats don't directly relate/coincide with one another.

 

In other words, it is not a 1 in 2 chance. It would just mean that if you were pregnant, there is a 50% chance you were using some form of contraception or another (how well you were using it is another matter....putting a condom on after "pulling out" is not really proper use for example).

 

The effectiveness of birth control will vary according to type, use, body chemistry...etcetera.

 

I am not so sure I believe the pill stat; would have to see the date as that is a pretty high rate....but I know many whom have gotten pregnant on pill due to not taking it properly/skipping or just bad luck . I can see it in the sense many women may not take it properly, or may not use a backup method in case they miss one, etc.....or just luck of the draw. Even on pill, have sex 1,000 times and there is a good chance one of those times might still end up in a pregnancy. Condoms are less effective than the pill overall and so on due to breaks/leaks, etc.

 

As I understand, the pill is 90-95% effective according to 'real life use' meaning taking regularly around same time, etcetera (the 99% stat is for perfect lab-created use), condoms are 80-90%, IUD's are 97-99%, etcetera). Combining two different methods increases effectiveness in case of failure of course.

 

If you are taking the pill properly, you are fine though of course never 100%....if you are that worried I would suggest using condoms as well or another secondary method.

 

I was on pill for over ten years and never got pregnant....but after going off it I ovulate like clockwork, my guess is my fertility is fine and the pill just did its job as it was supposed too!

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So that's a 1 in 2 chance of getting pregnant while on contraception.

Nope, that's a totally incorrect way to determine that statistic. The way to tell the chance of getting pregnant you need to know the number of people on contraception and the number that actually got pregnant.

 

The number of women that get pregnant on the pill is actually very low compared to the number of women as a whole that are taking the pill.

 

Failures are likely due to improper use or the persons unique nature.

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The people who end up getting pregnant while on the pill are those who forget to take it on time or miss a pill or those who take antibiotics while on the pill (which negate its effects) and things such as that.

 

Those who use the pill according to instructions have about a 98% chance of preventing pregnancy.

 

No, not getting pregnant while on the pill does not mean that you are less fertile.

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I agree that of those 50% that got pregnant, improper use of contraceptives is the cause. I've known too many friends over the years who had no failures.

 

With that said, I am one of the 2-3% with IUD failure, 28 years ago I conceived my daughter, who will be 27 in a couple of months while having a Copper 7 in place. That very same Copper 7 is still embedded in my uterus. I told her, she was the finger of God, and in a sense it may be true, it was the best thing that happened to me in life.

 

Sometimes the best mistakes in the world happen

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The failure rate on the pill WHEN USED ACCORDING TO INSTRUCTIONS is miniscule.

 

I disagree. The pill is anywhere from about 96-99%. That sounds pretty high but when you break it down... that's per year. So you have, let's say, a 2% chance of getting pregnant each year. That's a 10% chance of getting pregnant in 5 years. 40% chance of getting pregnant in 20 years. Not really that low...

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I disagree. The pill is anywhere from about 96-99%. That sounds pretty high but when you break it down... that's per year. So you have, let's say, a 2% chance of getting pregnant each year. That's a 10% chance of getting pregnant in 5 years. 40% chance of getting pregnant in 20 years. Not really that low...

 

No, that's an erroneous conclusion. The percentage doesn't rise by the accrual of years. It's still 2% no matter how long you're on it. The percentage is not cumulative.

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No, that's an erroneous conclusion. The percentage doesn't rise by the accrual of years. It's still 2% no matter how long you're on it. The percentage is not cumulative.

 

Yes, I was going to say that

 

All it means is that you are "risking" the 2, 5, whatever % more often, not that your actual risk increases in itself.

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I disagree. The pill is anywhere from about 96-99%. That sounds pretty high but when you break it down... that's per year. So you have, let's say, a 2% chance of getting pregnant each year. That's a 10% chance of getting pregnant in 5 years. 40% chance of getting pregnant in 20 years. Not really that low...

Stats don't work like that.

 

The 98% is for the use of the pill. Its not 98% chance per year. Each time you have sex its 2% chance of that sex act resulting in pregnancy. If the pill is used properly its more likely less than that.

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I disagree. The pill is anywhere from about 96-99%. That sounds pretty high but when you break it down... that's per year. So you have, let's say, a 2% chance of getting pregnant each year. That's a 10% chance of getting pregnant in 5 years. 40% chance of getting pregnant in 20 years. Not really that low...

 

The typical failure rate of the pill is 0.2%, the typical user failure rate is 3%. If used correctly and at your prescribed dosage the pill will work 499 times in 500. Now that does not mean that you are a chance to get pregnant every 500 events. It means that EVERY time you take it your chance of getting pregnant is 1 in 500...that is a very different thing.

 

When you factor in there are about 4-6 days available every cycle get pregnant, even if you played the exact odds that would be on average a chance every 7 - 9 years. And that would be unlikely.

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eh UmA your math is a little flawed.. its not so much per year but rather dependent on how many times you have sex..lets say you have sex 10 times then the math would be assuming it has a 96% success rate would be (1-(chance of success over all 10 time which = .96^10)= (1-.665)= .335= 33.5% chance to have a child with the pill over 10 times.... correct me if im wrong its been along time since stats. it would be closer to 20% if its closer to 98% effective ...but you might want to see if the effective rating isnt closer to like 99.8 in which case would still be pretty consistent...moral of story tho the more attempts the more chances you have.

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eh UmA your math is a little flawed.. its not so much per year but rather dependent on how many times you have sex..lets say you have sex 10 times then the math would be assuming it has a 96% success rate would be (1-(chance of success over all 10 time which = .96^10)= (1-.665)= .335= 33.5% chance to have a child with the pill over 10 times.... correct me if im wrong its been along time since stats. it would be closer to 20% if its closer to 98% effective ...but you might want to see if the effective rating isnt closer to like 99.8 in which case would still be pretty consistent...moral of story tho the more attempts the more chances you have.

 

No, it's not how many times you have sex. It's 2% every time.

 

Think of it as lottery stats.

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When they say that it has a 98% rate of effectiveness, what they mean is this:

 

Over the course of a year, 100 sexually active women are given the pill. In that year, 2 of them will get pregnant.

 

I googled "birth control effectiveness" and this was the first web page to come up:

 

link removed

 

...which states on the top line "The following table provides estimates of the percent of women likely to become pregnant while using a particular contraceptive method for one year. "

 

...my math is not flawed.

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No, the stats are measured per the pregnancy rate over year, but that does not mean that YOUR rate increases every year.

 

Every time you have sex again, your chance is 1-5% (if on pill depending on stats you go by - I always go by the 5% for the pill personally). The next time, it is still 1-5%. It does not increase every year or every time.

 

I have the copper IUD, so my risk is 0.08% every time on average, it is not going to be "more" just because I have sex more/longer, I am just exposing myself to the risk of falling in that 0.08% more often.

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No, the stats are measured per the pregnancy rate over year, but that does not mean that YOUR rate increases every year.

 

Every time you have sex again, your chance is 1-5% (if on pill depending on stats you go by). The next time, it is still 1-5%. It does not increase every year or every time.

 

Yeah that is right. The odds are EVERY time you have sex, not cummulative.

 

And the table you quoted said failure rate of 0.1% if used properly. That is even less than I said. Equivalent to 1 chance in every 1000 events.

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I think what she is trying to say is.

 

That if you are on the pill for 20 years. You'd have a two percent chance everytime you have sex. So, if you have sex 100 times compared to someone who has sex 10 times, you are more likely to become pregnant.

 

It just means you are exposing yourself more often to the risk.

 

But, it can be the one whom has it ten times whom falls in the 5% whom get pregnant, and the other never does even though they have sex 100 times!

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So, if you have sex 100 times compared to someone who has sex 10 times, you are more likely to become pregnant.

 

Well that part is true.

 

No, that is incorrect. No matter how many times you have sex---one time or 100 times--your odds of getting pregnant are the same.

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Ok you guys i'm sure about this. I don't know much about relationships but I definitely know my stats.

 

You don't have a 2% chance of getting pregnant each time you have sex. You have a 2% chance of getting pregnant over a year. (Of course, the more often you have sex, the greater your chances, but we're talking averages here.)

 

Now, if they continued the study for 20 years, there would be 40 pregnancies altogether for those 100 women. Thus, a 40% chance of pregnancy after 20 years.

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Well all that makes me feel a lot better

 

I also know however a few women who got pregnant 'by accident' while on the pill. What they don't tell you is that they skipped a few or vomitted or whatever...

 

Personally I don't think it's that hard to take stronger contraceptive measures while you are sick/whatever if it means you won't have an unwanted pregnancy, and it's not THAT hard to remember it at the same time each day. It's called putting reminders into your phone *rolls eyes*.

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