Birth Control For Dummies

The pill, depo-vera, the patch, the ring, IUD,etc. Women are rolling in an abundance of birth control options, yet many still rely on men to be the responsible ones in the situation. Men do the same. It's no wonder 17% of all sex results in pregnancy, most accidental, when you think of the amount of people taking it for granted. You miss a pill, the condom breaks, it's no big deal, noone really ever gets pregnant from something like that, Lisa told you so! And she knows everything! Canada is fortunate enough to not only be pro-choice, we're also pro(tection). Yet the majority of girls are misinformed about their chosen method of birth control. The most common and misused form of birth control is the pill. Some common misconceptions are:
So I missed a few pills. I'll just take them all today, and everything will be fine!
The pills are hormone-regulated to give a specifically calculated dosage for each day, to continue fooling your body into thinking it's pregnant. By skipping days, it throws your chemicals out of balance, and could actually increase the chances of you getting pregnant.
I'm on the pill! There is no way I could possibly get pregnant!
Most pills are only 99% effective. Certain other factors can lessen their effectiveness, such as other medications and vitamins you may be on.
I'm on the pill, and since I'm on my period, I don't have to worry about getting pregnant. You can't get pregnant on your period.
People who use the pill often think of it as a fool-proof safety net. It's a very common misconception that sex while on your period will not lead to pregnancy. It's still possible, which is why (along with other hygenic reasons) you should always use a second form of protection while on your period.
I can't catch anything, I'm on the pill!
For whatever reason, women think just because you're protected from pregnancy, you've developed some super amazing immunity to STI's, AIDS/HIV and a slew of other really bad things that you can catch when having unprotected sex with strangers.
Over the years, researchers have been making amazing progress in the ways women can prevent pregnancy through birth control. Up until very recently, there wasn't a lot of progress made into male birth control, aside from condoms and more permanent solutions. With that said, they are currently working on a male birth control pill which is taking some extended time to work out the kinks, such as the male remaining fertile afterwards, and resuming a normal level of fertility afterwards with no long term effects.
For years, women were labeled as the weaker sex. Forced to be housewives, and not do anything deemed as shameful, these new advancements in a womans control over her sexual encounters means we're one step closer to being completely out from under the glass ceiling. No longer are men the only people who rule our sex lives. We now have a say as to whether we use a form of birth control to prevent pregnancies, and for the first time since women got the right to vote, we've taken a huge leap to equal opportunities for everyone, on everything. Women have more choices, but men have an easier method. Women need to count days, get needles, or implants to ensure they don't end up in an unwanted situation. With more and more men becoming no-show fathers, women need every precaution they can to ensure they don't end up in a bad situation alone.
We've been blessed with the ability to choose our own futures. If we don't want children, we now have the power and the access to ensure that doesn't happen. If birth control was food, I think it would be comparable to sliced bread. Pro-Choice isn't just about being pregnant, it's about preventing it too.