In the previous article on contraceptives, “To Be or Not to Be—That is the Contraceptive,” the methods of preventing pregnancy were listed and described. But none of them has changed the world the way the oral contraceptive—or “birth control pill” (BCP)—has.
The Combination Pill and the Progesteron-only Pill (POP)
Ingredients—one scoop or two
Two types of pill have been marketed. The more popular version is called the “combination pill,” because it has both an estrogen and a progesterone, the main female hormones involved in the menstrual cycle and ovulation. For women who cannot take estrogen, the progesterone-only pill (POP) was developed.
Party on! Adventures in promiscuity and sexual experimentation
To say “the pill” was a revolution is an understatement. It was introduced first in the 1960s, and along with daring and provocative music, changing concepts of morality, and the hippie ...
What is Conception?
Conception, the interaction between a sperm cell and a woman’s egg, is an addition greater than the mere sum of the parts. This is the construction of a unique combined set of genetic information that renders a single individual unlike any other. (With identical twins, triplets, etc., it is a lucky duplication of this, but—still—a unique set of genetic information.) With an average of 60 million sperm competing for the one egg, there is only one in a 60-million chance that any one of them will be part of a real human being 281 days later. It’s a lottery win, and it’s a sobering thought that really puts the important things in life into perspective when someone cuts you off in traffic.
Is contraception the same as abortion?
No. The controversy over abortion is because this stops what follows after conception, which is a process already started. Whether the initial fusion of genes or when the fetus can survive outside the womb ...
