What is contraception?

Contraception prevents a woman getting pregnant.

The woman and her (female or male) partner can decide when to have children and how many children to have. This is also called “family planning”. If you have sexual intercourse but do not wish to have children (or not yet), you can prevent pregnancy by using Contraception.

Using contraception does not make a woman any less fertile. Nor does a man become less fertile by using contraception. When the couple stops using contraception, the woman can once again bear children and the man can once again father children. Only sterilisation can make a person permanently infertile.

There are various methods of contraception

You can choose the contraceptive method that best suits you and your partner.

For example, should you use a hormone-based or hormone-free method? Or: will the woman still have menstrual bleeding and ovulation?

There are other questions that will help you to choose.If you use your contraceptive method entirely correctly, you can avoid pregnancy very reliably. Some methods require more practice and experience than others.

For some methods, you have to go to a doctor, for example to obtain the pill or a coil. You can buy other products, for example condoms, in a drugstore.

If one method does not work for you, you can try another.

Counselling

Ask for advice from a doctor or the staff of a counselling centre. None of these people can pass on information about you to anyone else. This is called your right to privacy, and it is a legal right.

It may also be helpful to talk to your partner about contraception.