Expert: Drea Jean H. - 5/17/2006

Question
I've been taking my birth control for 8 months now and its working how it suppost to be working, But i resently herd from some girls that you can tell if your birth control is working if your partner ejaculates inside you and it comes out your vagina afterwards....is this true? Also is the pill made for the guy to be able to cum inside you? (because i don't like that idea at all)

Answer
Hi Sam,

Birth control works in 3 ways:

1) It stops ovulation. Every month your body releases a egg from the fallopian tubes, and it travels down the tube, into the uterus and waits for sperm to fertilize it. If that doesn't happen in a day or two, it dies. This only happens one day a month. Birth control stops your egg from being released, so you cant get pregnant.

2) It makes your uterus a "bad enviroment" for a fertilized egg to live in. Every month your body builds up a nutrient rich blood lining, so that if a sperm find your egg, and you become pregnant, the egg has no place to implant, so it cant grow into a fetus, and it will come out with your period. You wont notice when that happens. It is too tiny to see.

3) It thickens your cervical discharge. The natural discharge you will notice on your underwear every once in a while is from your cervix, the entrance to your uterus. If it is too thick, sperm have a hard time getting into your uterus, so you cant get pregnant.

What the girls told you, about the ejaculate coming back out showing a way to know it is working is not true. Birth control works if you take it on time, every day and don't miss any. There is a small risk of pregnancy, about 1% of women on the pill will become pregnant, but there is no way to know for sure it is working. And yes, the pill is made for a man to cum inside of you, and you wont get pregnant if its working so that is safe. But if you don't want him to, thats okay, just make him wear a condom, or ask him to pull out. Birth control will NOT prevent sexually transmitted diseases, so remember that.

Thanks,

Drea Jean