There’s a Vas Deferens Between Us, He Told Me

In the abyss, as my backpack is not-s0-affectionately known, I’ve been toting an article around for a few days from the WSJ. It was about how despite all of the advances in medicine and technology in fifty years of progress, more than half of all the pregancies in the US are still unplanned.

The illustration showed a huge assortment of the various gadgets women use; from crab-like IUDs to Today Sponges to old-fashioned bulbous diaphrams nesting in their plastic holders.  There’s even skin patches, Norplant implants, hormonal IUDs and T-shaped copper IUDs, along with the dial-style estrogen dosing birth control pill, used by 31% of women in the US.  These others all get less than 1 percent apiece.

Taking second place is the condom, the only method listed that protects against STDs. Female condoms are another option but apparently require a lot more expertise to work as well as the smaller male versions.  The story by Melinda Beck describe a paradox–‘the fog zone,’ in which 1800 surveyed young people between 18-29 find themselves.  Yes, they agree, say 80% of them, it’s important to them to avoid pregancy. Yet 43% of them who are a sexually active said they used no contraception or used it in consistently.  Fog zone indeed!

In our I-want-it-now world, it seems that one method is gaining in popularity, and requires no regular daily ritual–it’s the pills that offer a morning-after solution. Brands like Plan B and Next Choice can be taken up to five days after unprotected sex.  Of course most women would love it if birth control was a man’s problem and not just theirs.  For this, there’s a new kind of vasectomy, in which a doctor pokes a clamp through the skin instead of cutting the vas deferens with a scalpel. It’s easier and has fewer complications.  And the best part is that it’s covered by insurers and medicaid.