Contraception or birth control interferes with the normal process of ovulation, fertilization and implantation, thus preventing pregnancy. Contraception is used to plan when women or couples want to have their babies, the age gap between their children and when they want to stop having children.
Sometimes women want to complete their education, follow career goals or don’t have the means for the responsibility of a child. Contraception allows them to let them take their time to achieve their goals. The ability to plan, delay and space your pregnancies, results in better outcomes for babies and their mothers through healthy and happy maternal behavior during pregnancy.
Teenage pregnancies are on the rise in many countries. Young women and teenagers are sometimes at a risk of problems in pregnancy. Teenage pregnancies are harmful for both the mother’s health and the baby’s health resulting in a baby with low birth weight or certain birth defects.
Delaying their pregnancy allows their body to get ready to support a healthy pregnancy. Also, young girls are not emotionally and physically ready to take care of a baby and neither do they have the means to support a child. Having a baby early on in life affects a girl’s ambitions because of which abortions are rising. Abortions can be avoided with the use of contraceptives as they prevent unwanted pregnancies. This reduces cases of unsafe abortions, which sometimes leads to a women’s untimely death or complications in pregnancies later on in life.
Pregnancies that occur with very less intervals in between can contribute to infant mortality rate as the mother’s body is not physically fit to bear another child. Using contraceptive for family planning allows the families plan their pregnancy according to their convenience so that the baby is healthy and gets the best care and attention possible. Most families are able to plan fewer babies because of contraceptives. Fewer children allow families to invest in them better by providing them a happy and loving childhood, clean environment, nutritious meals and good education.
The biggest benefit of contraceptive use is to control the population growth of a country. Over population hinders a country’s growth and puts pressure on a country’s resources, economy and environment.
The Use of Contraceptives
There are many forms of contraception but the common feature in all of them is that it works only if used faithfully. The methods of birth control work in different ways. The various groups of birth control are either hormonal contraceptives such as oral pills and injections taken at regular intervals. Others are implantation under skin, inserting IUD in the uterus and surgical methods which are taken care of by a doctor.
The range of benefits that you can get from following proper contraception is not only prevention from pregnancy, but also reducing pregnancy-related mortality rate and reducing risk of developing certain cancers. Doctors prescribe contraceptives to treat menstruation related disorders like heavy bleeding, managing PCOS symptoms like acne and excess hair. If you suffer from painful periods, hormonal contraceptives can provide relief. The risk of ovarian cysts is also reduced as birth control pills prevent ovulation resulting in prevention of cysts.
For some women hormonal contraceptive methods cause side effects such as mood swings, headaches and pains and more. The choice of contraceptives can be tailored, as what suits one woman may not suit other. Such people can try the barrier methods such as condoms. Barrier methods of contraception are not 100% effective but they protect from sexually transmitted diseases resulting in fewer number of infected babies. Most young people use condoms as they are cheap and easily available.
Contraceptives are widely available and easily accessible. Trained health workers provide counseling and make people familiar with family planning methods like pills and condoms. For any implantations or for any surgical method, you need to get in touch with a doctor. Contraceptive methods from man are very limited.
There are still many women and couples who don’t want to use a contraceptive for family planning because of the fear of side-effects, religious opposition, and limited access to contraception or poor quality of services available. Good quality services and the right knowledge with helpful resources should be provided to such people so that they can make the best use of contraceptives for the purpose of family planning.
Thus, you can say that contraceptives can be a life saver for many women and families trying to prevent pregnancy. They can now freely decide whether they want to have children or not, when they want to have children and how many. The worldwide use of contraceptives has led to reduction in infant and maternal mortality rates, resulted in better socio-economic conditions for women and families. Talk to your doctor to find out the contraceptive method that works best for you and your family. WHS ObGyn offer a wide range of health services expertise in female reproductive health, pregnancy, and childbirth.
