Historically, contraceptive use was tied to the actual sex act, and for this reason men had to participate in it (for example, by using a condom or withdrawing). Regardless of the circumstances under which pregnancies occur, men are still held socially and financially responsible for any children they father. Men have to trust that their partners are correctly and consistently using contraception. The lack of effective and reversible options for men forces many men to rely on their partners for contraception. Given the condom’s high failure rate of 16 percent during typical use, men who want to maintain the possibility of having biological children are not able to regulate their reproduction as effectively as women are-many female LARCs have failure rates under 3 percent. While not being responsible for some or all of these burdens is a significant boon for men, at the same time, men’s reproductive autonomy is inhibited by the dearth of male contraceptives, especially LARCs. knowing which medications can interfere with the effectiveness of contraception), dealing with the medicalization of one’s reproductive health, undergoing invasive procedures by physicians (e.g., pelvic exam) and by contraceptives (e.g., IUDs, Norplant), feeling stress and anxiety about the possibility of unintended pregnancy, and facing the social repercussions of contraceptive decisions and the possible moral reproach for contraceptive failures. īeyond the health-related and financial considerations, there are also nontrivial inconveniences and burdens associated with contraceptive use: dedicating time and energy to contraception care (e.g., doctor visits), acquiring the knowledge about contraception and reproduction needed to effectively prevent pregnancy (e.g. Finally, the two available male forms of contraception, condoms and vasectomy, also carry fewer health risks than their corresponding female methods, female barrier contraceptives and tubal ligation. The most common reason women discontinue contraceptive use is unwanted side effects, and most forms of contraception have discontinuation rates approaching 50 percent after 1 year of use.
In addition to being more expensive, female methods have more serious side effects than male methods, as well, in part because various contraceptive methods for women involve hormones, while no methods for men do. However, beginning August 1, 2012, new insurance plans will have to cover contraception without a co-pay to comply with the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010. Currently many insurance plans do not cover contraception and, of the 28 states that mandate insurance plans to cover contraception, 20 of them have opt-out clauses for religious or ethical reasons. On the whole, female methods tend to be more expensive than male methods because most require at least one physician visit, and some involve a renewable prescription. Women currently bear most of the financial and health-related burdens of contraception.
A more just contraceptive arrangement can only be achieved through the development of male LARCs and reconceptualizing the responsibility for contraception as shared between men and women. The disparity between the number and types of female and male LARCs is problematic for at least two reasons: first, because it forces women to assume most of the financial, health-related, and other burdens of contraception, and, second, because men’s reproductive autonomy is diminished by ceding major responsibility for contraception to women. In contrast, men only have 2 options-male condom and vasectomy-and neither are hormonal methods or LARCs. Since then, other long-acting, reversible contraceptives (LARCs) have been developed for women, and women now have a total of 11 methods to choose from, including barrier methods, hormonal methods, and LARCs. The invention of the birth control pill was a significant milestone in the women’s rights movement.
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