What are various ways to avoid pregnancy? Elaborate any one method.
Ans.
Various ways to avoid pregnancy:
Natural methods
(a) Periodic abstinence - abstain from sexual intercourse during the fertile period (10-17 day of the menstrual cycle)
(b) Lactational amenorrhea - ovulation generally will not occur during the period of intense lactation.
Barrier methods
(a) Condoms - made of thin rubber latex sheath, prevents ejaculated sperms from reaching the uterus.
(b) Other barrier methods are diaphragms, cervical caps, and vaults
Intrauterine devices – These are devices inserted into the uterus by doctors or trained nurses through the vagina. These are of different types such as non-medicated (lippes loop), copper releasing (Cu T, multi-load 375), hormone-releasing (Progestasert, LNG-20).
Oral contraceptive pills – Oral administration of small doses of progesterone – estrogen combination in the form of pills, eg. Saheli.
Surgical methods - Vasectomy (vas deference are cut and tied ensuring the absence of sperms in semen), tubectomy (fallopian tubes are cut and tied preventing ovum reaching uterus).