Aren’t Condoms Better Than The Pill?

The short answer is no, but it’s not as simple as that.

If we’re looking just at effectiveness at preventing pregnancy, then the birth control pill is more effective. In perfect conditions the pill has an effectiveness rate of 99.7%. What that means is that in a year of using pills, less than 1 woman out of 100 will get pregnant.

For the external condom, which people sometimes call the male condom, the effectiveness rate is much lower. Out of 100 women using the external condom as their only method of contraception  for a year, 2 will get pregnant.

For the internal condom, sometimes called the female condom, the effectiveness is even lower. Out of 100 women, 5 will get pregnant in a year using the internal condom as their sole method of contraception.

 But these numbers are based on perfect use. And humans definitely are not perfect when it comes to contraception.

 So when we look at what we call typical use, 7 out of 100 pill users will get pregnant in a year. It almost doubles for the external condom. 13 people will get pregnant in a year with typical use of the external condom. And with the internal condom, 21 women will get pregnant in a year of using it as their only method of contraception.

 I don’t usually throw this many numbers out in a post, so here’s a handy dandy chart.

But these numbers aren’t the whole story. I started this by talking about effectiveness in terms of preventing pregnancy. If we’re talking about preventing STI transmission, then that’s a whole different story.

Internal condoms provide the most protection against STIs. External condoms provide some protection. The pill provides absolutely no protection from STIs.

So when it comes to effectiveness there are two things you need to think about when finding a method that works for you.

The first is what do you want the method to do? Protect against pregnancy? Protect against STIs? Both? Those answers are going to change which methods may be good options for you.

The second question is, how well are you going to use it? The pill is more effective than a condom at preventing pregnancy, but if you’re not going to remember to take it every day, then that doesn’t matter.

 If you’re going to use a condom, you need to put it on correctly before there’s any penetration. So no playing “just the tip” without a condom  because there’s a chance of both pregnancy and STI transmission from that.

 Keep in mind that you can use both a hormonal method, like the pill, combined with a condom This may make you feel more comfortable, since you’ll have increased protection from pregnancy and some protection from STIs.

 Until next time, be safe and have fun!

Have a question you want answered? Submit it here: https://milsteinhealthconsulting.com/heydrsue