Nearly 25% of women aged 15 to 44 who now use contraception indicated choosing the pill as their method, making birth control pills the most commonly recommended form of contraception in the Philippines.
In this article, Blue Bee Mom answers why pills are commendable while also giving precautions. Further, we offer you more choices!
Birth Control As Pills
Oral contraceptives, usually birth control pills, are drugs taken orally to prevent conception. It has trace levels of hormones, including synthetic progesterone and estrogen. The ovaries of a woman produce these hormones on their own. Birth control pills come in two varieties: the most popular and combination pills, which include progestin and estrogen. Another option is pills that contain solely progestin.
How does it function? The pill prevents the union of the sperm and the egg. You become pregnant when an egg is released from your ovary and fertilized by the sperm. Your body’s hormones regulate the release of the egg from the ovary during ovulation and get ready for the fertilized egg to enter your body. The natural hormones in your body are blocked by birth control pills to prevent conception. It contains the body’s ovulation.
Additionally, it makes the cervix’s mucus thicker. Sperm cannot swim to an egg because of the more viscous cervical mucus.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Pills
Every person experiences side effects differently, and medications have distinct adverse effects. Let’s begin with the benefits.
It is over 99% effective if the medication is as directed. Simply follow your daily medication routine, and start your new packs on time.
Health advantages also come with birth control pills. It can ease period pain, lessen cramping, and reduce your ectopic pregnancy chance. This happens when a fertilized egg implants and grows outside the uterus, a tubal pregnancy. The fertilized egg can’t survive, and the growing tissue could result in life-threatening hemorrhage if left untreated, so it can’t proceed properly.
You can also use this medication to treat acne outbreaks. It offers some defense against conditions including iron shortage, endometrial and ovarian cancer, ovarian and breast cysts, dangerous infections of the ovaries, fallopian tubes, and uterus, and bone thinning. Your periods may become more regular if you take birth control pills.
The medications are also reversible if you believe you are ready to become a parent. You can become pregnant straight soon if you stop taking the pill. Even skipping your period is possible using this method. For women who can’t take estrogen therapy, smoke, are over 35, have a history of blood clots, desire to breastfeed, or can’t handle estrogen therapy, progestin-only pills may be safer.
What about the drawbacks now? It can be challenging to remember to take your birth control pill every day. You will not be protected from pregnancy if you don’t take the medication on schedule and frequently. You will still need another kind of protection for this since the pill doesn’t protect you against STDs.
Spotting or bleeding between periods, sore breasts, lower stomach pain, fatigue, nausea, increased vaginal discharge, decreased libido, mood swings, headaches, or migraine attacks may be some of the frequent side effects. Your menstruation could also alter, becoming early, late, or ceasing altogether.
If you’re starting to take this pill, give your body some time to get used to it since it influences your hormones. Whether or not this occurs for those who take the pill will depend on the individual. But frequently, it would disappear after two or three months.
Although there are few significant side effects like heart attack, stroke, blood clots, and liver tumors, birth control tablets are generally relatively safe. Most women can take it without problems, but smoking women over 35 shouldn’t.
Why Women Use Birth Control Pills
Of all the reasons why people, commonly women, use birth control pills or other contraceptive methods, two remain at the top of the list. Here’s what they are:
Unplanned Birth or Pregnancy
Anyone can experience sexual pleasure via legal and ethical techniques; it’s a matter of personal preference. It’s typical.
Not everyone who engages in sexual activity wants to have children or is prepared for that particular level of responsibility. It is also typical.
Hence, birth control!
For two couples or casual individuals who want to enjoy the tremendous excitement of sex without making long-term plans to start babies, contraceptives can be pretty helpful. It doesn’t matter why this is happening; it could be for various reasons, including career, financial security, or emotional openness. Each one is true and appropriate.
Of course, it is much better than the reasonably horrible situation in which a child is born into a family who never intended to have them, resulting in abuse and neglect. Even worse problems could arise when an unintended mother is forced to make crucial life decisions due to her pregnancy.
This is why birth control is preferable to prevent unintended pregnancies for which people are not yet ready or undesirable pregnancies for which people have no desire to commit.
Considering Family Planning
However, some couples genuinely wish to start a family! Of course, they are free to do so. Birth control is recommended, especially if you live in a nation like the Philippines, which is overpopulated!
Sizes of households vary. One set of parents may be content with one child, while another may want twelve. Of course, there are things to think about when making this decision. Personal, housing capacity and economic factors may be combined. The reasons for choosing how your family grows are valid, logical, and well-reasoned, just like the reasons for choosing not to create a family. After all, parents are the ones who can determine how much and what sort of life to give their future offspring.
But the subject of making love will be broached frequently. Contraception is the solution for a couple who simply cannot get enough of each other but wants to keep the number of their children to what they agreed upon!
A child’s future may be in their hands, but it is up to their parents to lay the groundwork for it. Therefore, a parent must determine how many children they can raise in a good, safe, and comfortable atmosphere.
The many contraceptive options are shown below. Discover the ideal approach for you based on your preferences, tastes, tolerance, and comfort level!
Alternative Birth Control Techniques
Do you prefer it to be technical, natural, or oral? Your preference and option are both available with these contraceptive methods:
Caps
A contraceptive diaphragm or cap—a thin, soft silicone dome—is inserted into the vagina before sexual contact. To stop sperm from fertilizing eggs in the uterus, it covers the cervix. When combined with spermicide, a diaphragm or cap is 92–96% effective at preventing pregnancy. Only during sex must you wear a diaphragm or cap, but you must continue to do so for at least 6 hours following your last sexual encounter. Before this period, do not remove it; you might leave it in for longer.
Male and Female Condoms
The use of condoms is the only birth control strategy that can both prevent pregnancy and protect against STDs. The soft, thin substance synthetic latex is used to make condoms for women. They are worn inside the vagina to prevent semen from getting into the womb. In contrast, men wear condoms over their dicks to prevent semen from entering a woman’s womb.
Implantable Contraceptives
Under the skin of your upper arm, a doctor or nurse will install a small, flexible plastic rod known as a Nexplanon contraceptive implant. It lasts for three years and results in your body releasing the progestogen hormone to prevent pregnancy. Over 99% of implants are successful. Once the implant is placed, you won’t have to think about it again for three years. It assists women who struggle to remember to take their medications at the same time each day.
Patch Contraceptive
The contraceptive patch is a little, sticky patch that prevents conception by releasing hormones via your skin into your body. When used properly, the patch has a greater than 99% success rate in preventing pregnancy. A patch has a one-week shelf life. After three weeks of weekly patch updates, you receive a week off from applying fixes. You can wear it when exercising, swimming, or taking a shower.
Injection of Contraception
The contraceptive injectable (Depo-Provera, Sayana Press, or Noristerat) releases the progestogen hormone into your body to prevent conception. The fact that it lasts for 8 or 13 weeks, depending on the injection you receive, means that you won’t need to think about contraception every day or every time you have sex during this time. It is important to remember to get another shot before it expires or loses its effectiveness.
Sterilization of Women
Female sterilization is the term for a procedure that permanently prevents conception. The fallopian tubes are closed or clogged in order to prevent the sperm from fertilizing the eggs. You might receive a local anesthetic, where you would be awake but not feel any discomfort, or a general anesthesia, where you would be asleep throughout the process. You don’t have to think about how to avoid getting pregnant before every sexual action, so it doesn’t interfere with your sexual life.
Sterilization of Men (Vasectomy)
By severing or sealing the tubes that hold a man’s sperm, a vasectomy (also known as male sterilization) is a surgical procedure to end pregnancy permanently. It is usually administered when awake but not in pain and lasts about 15 minutes. Rarely, you might receive a general anesthesia, in which case the entire treatment would render you unconscious. You won’t need to consider contraception after it is finished because it is considered permanent. A vasectomy stops sperm from entering the fluid a man excretes during ejaculation, called semen.
Conclusion
Because personhood begins at conception, using birth control is moral in the Philippines and everywhere else. Instead of stopping a person’s physical emergence, it postpones the onset of personhood. It is not selfish to utilize birth control if it benefits your identity, environment, community, and society.
