World Contraception Day : The 26th of September is World Contraception Day, devoted to raising awareness and improving education about sexual and reproductive health, with a vision of a world where every pregnancy is wanted.  It is supported by a group of governments and international NGOs, including the Office of Populations Affairs, the Asian Pacific Council on Contraception, Centro Latinamericano Salud y Mujer, the European Society of Contraception and Reproductive Health, the German Foundation for World Population, the International Federation of Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology, International Planned

Withdrawal : The withdrawal method (also known as coitus interruptus ) is the practice of ending intercourse ("pulling out") before ejaculation. The main risk of the withdrawal method is that the man may not perform the maneuver correctly or in a timely manner . First-year failure rates vary from 4% with perfect usage to 22% with typical usage. It is not considered birth control by some medical professionals.  There is little evidence regarding the sperm content of pre-ejaculatory fluid. While some tentative research did not find sperm, one trial found

Prevalence : approximately 60% of those who are married and able to have children use birth control. How frequently different methods are used varies widely between countries. The most common method in the developed world is condoms and oral contraceptives, while in Africa it is oral contraceptives and in Latin America and Asia it is sterilization. In the developing world overall, 35% of birth control is via female sterilization, 30% is via IUDs, 12% is via oral contraceptives, 11% is via condoms, and 4% is

Modern methods : In 1909, Richard Richter developed the first intrauterine device made from silkworm gut, which was further developed and marketed in Germany by Ernst Gräfenberg in the late 1920s. Gregory Pincus"Pincus and John Rock with help from the Planned Parenthood Federation of America developed the first birth control pills in the 1950s, such as mestranol / norethynodrel, which became publicly available in the 1960s. Medical abortion became an alternative to surgical abortion with the availability of prostaglandin analogs in the 1970s and mifepristone in the 1980s. Legal positions : Human rights agreements require most governments to

Lactation : The lactational amenorrhea method involves the use of a woman's natural postpartum infertility which occurs after delivery and may be extended by breastfeeding. This usually requires the presence of no periods, exclusively breastfeeding the infant, and a child younger than six months. The World Health Organization states that if breastfeeding is the infant's only source of nutrition, the failure rate is 2% in the six months following delivery. Six uncontrolled studies of lactational amenorrhea method users found failure rates at 6 months postpartum between 0% and 7.5%. Failure rates increase to 4–7%

Finances : In the developing world, birth control increases economic growth due to there being fewer dependent children and thus more women participating in the workforce.  Women's earnings, assets, body mass index, and their children's schooling and body mass index all improve with greater access to birth control. Family planning via the use of modern birth control is one of the most cost-effective health interventions. For every dollar spent, the United Nations estimates that two to six dollars are saved. These cost savings are related to preventing unplanned pregnancies and decreasing the spread

Fertility awareness : Fertility awareness methods involve determining the most fertile days of the menstrual cycle and avoiding unprotected intercourse. Techniques for determining fertility include monitoring basal body temperature, cervical secretions, or the day of the cycle. They have typical first-year failure rates of 24%; perfect use first-year failure rates depend on which method is used and range from 0.4% to 5%. The evidence on which these estimates are based, however, is poor as the majority of people in trials stop their use early. Globally, they are used by about 3.5%

Emergency : A split dose of two emergency contraceptive pills (most are now provided as one single-dose pill) Emergency contraceptive methods are medications (sometimes misleadingly referred to as "morning-after pills") or devices used after unprotected sexual intercourse with the hope of preventing pregnancy. They work primarily by preventing ovulation or fertilization. A number of options exist, including high dose birth control pills, levonorgestrel, mifepristone, ulipristal and IUDs. Levonorgestrel pills, when used within 3 days, decrease the chance of pregnancy after a single episode of unprotected sex or condom failure by 70% (resulting in a pregnancy

Dual protection : Dual protection is the use of methods that prevent both sexually transmitted infections and pregnancy. This can be with condoms either alone or along with another birth control method or by the avoidance of penetrative sex. If pregnancy is a high concern using two methods at the same time is reasonable, and two forms of birth control is recommended in those taking the anti-acne drug isotretinoin, due to the high risk of birth defects if taken during pregnancy. See also: Maternal health Contraceptive use in developing countries is estimated to have decreased the

Birth control movement : The birth control movement developed during the 19th and early 20th centuries. The Malthusian League, based on the ideas of Thomas Malthus, was established in 1877 in the United Kingdom to educate the public about the importance of family planning and to advocate for getting rid of penalties for promoting birth control. It was founded during the "Knowlton trial" of Annie Besant and Charles, who were prosecuted for publishing on various methods of birth control. In the United States, Margaret Sanger and Otto Bobsein popularized the phrase "birth control"

Abstinence : Though some groups advocate total sexual abstinence, by which they mean the avoidance of all sexual activity, in the context of birth control the term usually means abstinence from vaginal intercourse. Abstinence is 100% effective in preventing pregnancy; however, not everyone who intends to be abstinent refrains from all sexual activity, and in many populations there is a significant risk of pregnancy from nonconsensual sex. Abstinence-only sex education does not reduce teenage pregnancy. Teen pregnancy rates are higher in students given abstinence-only education, as compared with comprehensive

Sterilization : Surgical sterilization is available in the form of tubal ligation for women and vasectomy for men . There are no significant long-term side effects, and tubal ligation decreases the risk of ovarian cancer. Short term complications are twenty times less likely from a vasectomy than a tubal ligation. After a vasectomy, there may be swelling and pain of the scrotum which usually resolves in a week or two.  With tubal ligation, complications occur in 1 to 2 percent of procedures with serious complications usually due to the anesthesia.  Neither