The push to develop male birth control comes from couples wanting a more egalitarian form of family planning. Many women are tired of carrying the full responsibility for family planning and dealing with birth control side effects, and many men are looking to offer their partners a reprieve.
Thankfully, fertility science has advanced to a point where men don’t have to get a vasectomy in order to participate in the family planning process. Fertility awareness methods (FAM), also known as modern, evidence-based methods of natural family planning (NFP), are highly effective methods of natural birth control that require the equal involvement of both sexual partners. Unlike conventional birth control methods like the Pill, the patch, the IUD, the implant, or the ring, which put the burden of birth control solely upon women, FAMs restore the responsibility of family planning to both partners in the relationship. Further, FAMs are noninvasive, since they don’t require anyone to go under the knife, and they don’t cause frustrating or dangerous birth control side effects for female partners. This makes FAMs the only truly safe and equitable form of family planning available for couples.
With fertility awareness methods, both the man and the woman make a shared decision to engage in sex on a particular day, using their knowledge of their combined fertility, coupled with their family planning goals. With FAMs, the future is left wide open in case these goals change—unlike the more permanent options like vasectomies or tubal ligations, that close the door completely to future possibilities. This permanence can be especially devastating for couples who experience the death of a spouse or the death of a child.
If you’re a man searching for male birth control because you’re looking for a more egalitarian approach to family planning, there are natural options for you. If you’re a woman who believes you shouldn’t have to shoulder all the responsibility for family planning when it takes two people to make a baby, you are not alone. Men and women deserve better options when it comes to family planning, and modern fertility awareness methods are the natural solution.
Click a topic to learn more about the following topics as FAM relates to men:
- Why FAM? How it works for guys
- Men’s fertility
- “She’s not herself”: Do you have a partner who is struggling with birth control side effects?
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