(birth control) Birth control, also known as contraception, is designed to prevent pregnancy. Birth control methods may work in a number of different ways: Preventing sperm from getting to the eggs. Types include condoms, diaphragms, cervical caps, and contraceptive sponges.; Keeping the woman's ovaries from releasing eggs that could be fertilized. Types include birth control pills, patches, shots, vaginal rings, and emergency contraceptive pills.; IUDs, devices which are implanted into the uterus. They can be kept in place for several years.; Sterilization, which permanently prevents a woman from getting pregnant or a man from being able to get a woman pregnant . Your choice of birth control should depend on several factors. These include your health, frequency of sexual activity, number of sexual partners and desire to have children in the future. Your health care provider can help you select the best form of birth control for you. NIH: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

(contraception) Prevention of CONCEPTION by blocking fertility temporarily, or permanently (STERILIZATION, REPRODUCTIVE). Common means of reversible contraception include NATURAL FAMILY PLANNING METHODS; CONTRACEPTIVE AGENTS; or CONTRACEPTIVE DEVICES.

(contraception) The prevention of conception or impregnation by the use of devices or drugs or surgery.

A couple�s decision to begin, prevent, or interrupt a pregnancy may be influenced by many factors including maternal medical disorders, risks involved in the pregnancy, and socioeconomic factors.

A patient's choice of contraceptive method involves factors such as efficacy, safety, noncontraceptive benefits, cost, and personal considerations. Periodic abstinence Contraceptive techniques based on periodic abstinence include the following: Coitus interruptus Lactational amenorrhea Natural family planning Natural family planning is...

Birth control, the voluntary limiting of human reproduction, using such means as sexual abstinence, contraception, induced abortion, and surgical sterilization. It includes the spacing as well as the number of children in a family. Birth control encompasses the wide range of rational and irrational...

Contraception, in human physiology, birth control through the deliberate prevention of conception or impregnation. The link between pregnancy and a man's semen was dimly understood even in ancient times, so that the earliest contraceptive methods involved preventing semen from entering the woman's...