Most women have wondered at least once: why is there no birth control pill for men?  It’s a good question!  Perhaps more broadly, why are women asked to make tough choices about their bodies and health for the sake of preventing unwanted pregnancies, while men usually don’t think further than tearing the condom wrapper.

While this new technology isn’t a pill, it would offer a contraceptive alternative for men besides condoms and vasectomies.  A sort of reproductive middle-path.  Australian scientists are developing a radio-controlled contraceptive implant that is put inside the vas defrens (a doorway in the male body which lets sperm travel from the testicals to the penis.  When triggered, the new device would simply block this migration.  At least temporarily.

The catch?  The valve can potentially become blocked by protein, perhaps resulting in permanent infertility. For this reason, the scientists authoring this new option reccomend it be used only for men already considering vasectomy.

http://technology.newscientist.com/article/dn13232-sperm-tap-planned-for-reversible-vasectomy.html

Welcome to At The Controls. The aim of this website is to provide recent information about contraceptive health and medicine as well as providing a space for conversation, debate and anecdote about various types of birth control.

My name is Lorla and I have been a women’s health writer for almost ten years now. I have written two books and am just starting a new writing project about birth control. Please help me with this new endeavor – take a minute and leave me a comment or send me an e-mail about your experiences.

I am starting to collect case histories and stories about experiences with various forms of contraception. Love your pill? Tell me why! Did you have a terrible experience with the patch? Please, help me out and put pen to paper. Write your story in as little or as many words and details as you’d like. Tell me what you use (and have used), how it has worked, what the side effects have been, and how you and your partner have communicated about contraception.

I’m hoping to get a real diversity of experiences – I’m sure some of you love what you use, others like some things and not others, and there are probably a group of you who are very unhappy. I bet many have been on the pill, some have never used hormones, and others have gone back and forth. I really want to hear all your stories.

If I use either the details of your story, or your actual writing in the book, I will change or delete any details that might identify you. I always use pseudonyms, and never include identifying things. And of course everything you tell me is completely confidential to the extent that you want it to be.

If you’re willing to help, leave a comment on this site, or e-mail me at: lorlalou@gmail.com

Thanks!