Would You Really Trust A Man To Take Birth Control Pills?

Birth control pills, how will they affect the human evolution in a couple thousand of years. The pill “tells” the female body to slow the menstrual cycle. With time, evolution will kick in, and later on, the female gene will say, “ok, we don’t need the hormones to ovulate anymore,” so the reproductive system will be greatly affected.
I’m talking about the future, of course non of this could be true; it’s just food for thought.
http://www.womenhealthcenter.net/

...but I just started reading BlogHer and I'm still catching up.

I'll tell you one man who would be on this pill as soon as it's available: my teenaged son. And I'd be standing there every morning with a pill and a glass of water for him. (In my defense, I'll do the same thing with my daughter.)

This pill is a great way for men to take charge of THEIR fertility. For me as a mom, it's a way to make sure I'm not raising any grandbabies while I'm still raising my own children.

Would I trust my partner? Yes, but only because we're established and I know him. As other posters have said, he's already on a daily medication regimen, and I trust him to take that. This would be just one more pill. And if the side effects for him are more tolerable than the side effects for me (of hormonal contraception), then it's a good tool for family planning.

Would I trust a new lover? Probably not. And yes, I suppose I shouldn't be having sex with someone I don't trust completely, but I'm a grown up and realize it doesn't always work out like that. People have betrayed me in other ares, pregnancy prevention is one I won't risk.

If you trust the person enough to have sex with him then why not extend your trust a little teensy bit further? Though I think pills are essentially useless, they could be a nice  alternative. In the end, the onus comes to your ownself. Which is the same premise we started from.

~ Jaded16

http://jaded16.wordpress.com/

I would trust my boyfriend to take it.  He is responsible and has a better memory than I do!  If you are talking about someone I have only been dating for a short time, probably not.  That doesn't have anything to do with their sex, it's just my general concern.  I like being sure.  I am not ready for children and I know I can really only trust myself to take the necessary precautions.

Male or female, we are all human.

http://sextoysforladies.com/

Great question. Our baby days are over, but between hubby and I, I think I might have to admit that he'd be better at remembering a daily pill than I would. He already takes daily meds--so what's one more pill, right?

But, on a broader scope, I think it really does depend on the relationship and, until you're at the point of complete trust, I see nothing wrong with BOTH partners taking charge of their own birth control--whatever form that may be.

Mompsy.com ( http://www.mompsy.com )

If sanity were a currency, I'd be broke

Very interesting question, Yesha. :)

Of course, it mainly depends on the guy's personality and his feelings of responsibility towards the gal he was having sex with.  Beside that, I think it would depend on the format of receiving the doses.

If it's set up like the female pill, I'd say you absolutely couldn't trust guys to take it because we don't get laid every day.  There's no reason to think about it.  This is why the get-it-up pills are so popular.  As soon as you feel like you're about to get some within the next four hours, you take it and you can do your thing. :)

Since we normally find out at the last minute whether we're going to get some or not, taking a pill far removed from the actual event doesn't compute.  They'd be better off following the same style and creating something that quickly and temporarily shuts down the male reproductive system, but I know that's ridiculous & far fetched, so, nah.. I wouldn't suspect that if they came up with something that needed to be taken every day you could trust a guy to take it.

Also, I agree with Liz.  If a guy took something like this, it would be so that HE could avoid getting her pregnant and he doesn't have to deal with the ensuing follies.  It wouldn't be so he could look out for HER.  It would be for his own peace of mind, so he doesn't pull his hair out for the next 20 days hoping she gets her period.

~ Bill ( http://billcammack.com/ )
I blog at billcammack.com ( http://billcammack.com/ )

( http://billcammack.com )

I would not trust a female partner to take birth control either. I'm a control freak and this is a big deal to me.

~Denise BlogHer Community Manager
Flamingo House Happenings ( http://www.flamingohouse.net/ )

I took the pill for years before I connected the dots between it and migraines.  We've tried a few different methods since, and not loved any of them.  We'd definitely try out, although we've got the same suspicion of hormonal birth control as Jenna.

http://myrope.wordpress.com

It's just as important for men to be able to take responsibility for birth control, both as a backup and if their partners are the ones who aren't so good with the daily routine.

Lady M blogs at http://www.empress-m.com/

I use birth control because *I* don't want to get pregnant. On some occasions in my life there have been times when my partner and I didn't use condoms, and I suppose he was trusting me to cover the birth control. I've dated other guys where we used condoms - because I wanted to, but also because the men in question were taking control of their birth control needs as best they could.

And the fact is, for a man, a condom is the best they can do to protect themselves from unwanted pregnancy. I know plenty of men who would prefer an even better option.

Liz Rizzo ( http://blogher.org/blog/liz-rizzo )

I blog at Everyday Goddess ( http://everydaygoddess.typepad.com/ ).

I don't think it's a matter of whether or not I'd trust a man to take birth control regularly (although part of me says that if you don't trust him to take a pill, you shouldn't be sleeping with him!!).  I think it's more a matter of each individual in a relationship (or, not in a relationship, even) being able to take responsibility for their own fertility (or lack thereof) regardless of gender.

I think it's nothing but good that men will have a temporary means by which to make sure they're shooting blanks, whether it's as a back up to HER birth control pill, or a back up to condoms, or both.  Women won't be able to "trap" men into pregnancies anymore, if those men have access to a birth control pill.  I know lots of people who have conceived because their primary method of BC has failed - and this could be an excellent secondary method to prevent unplanned pregnancies. 

If a couple is using traditional birth control, and the woman has to be on antibiotics, the man's pill can provide backup without an interruption in their usual habits (having to go out and buy condoms), which will also prevent unplanned pregnancies.

All of that said, though, I have one daughter who was excrutiatingly planned (2 years of trying) and another who is an "oops" (I got pregnant again when my oldest was 11 months old after one slip with the birth control!).  The "oops" baby was EXACTLY what our family needed - although I didn't know it at the time, and even though having two closely spaced kids terrified me, I wouldn't change it now for the world.  So not all "oopsies" are bad.  Some of them are exactly what some of us needed.  :)

Oh, and I think we're going to have a hell of a time getting men to take a pill that messes with their junk, too, especially without long-term safety trials.

http://prettybabies.blogspot.com

My husband can barely remember his wallet and phone every day...there is no way I would let him take on something as serious as the Pill!  I am absolutely a control freak so even if he was the most responsible person in the world I still doubt I'd let him take the reins on that one!

by Ameena from http://fancythatfancythis.com ( http://fancythatfancythis.com/ )

I would definitely trust my husband to take the Pill as required.  I'm pretty sure that I wouldn't have sex with someone I didn't trust enough to take medicine as he said he did, although I suppose you never really know.  Your point about women not being entirely reliable when it come to the Pill is case in point.  It's my body, and I definitely forget sometimes.  Either way, given my relationship status, if we can't trust each other about something like preventing pregancy, we have bigger problems.  But I wish that we could change off on using birth control.

Suzanne also blogs at Campaign for Unshaved Snatch (CUSS) & Other Rants ( http://cussandotherrants.com ) and is the author of Off the Beaten (Subway) Track ( http://offthebeatensubwaytrack.com ).

To be honest, my husband is better at remembering to take medication and vitamins on a daily basis than I am. So, that's not really my issue. My issue is with hormonal birth control in general. I know how it adversely affected me. How would it mess with my husband? While STD's aren't a worry for us, I wouldn't want him to deal with the awfulness of side effects either.

That said, pregnancy isn't possible for us any more. So, maybe my opinion is swayed by a lack of necessity to care... until my sons are out there, trying not to make babeis. Hmm.

@FireMom ( http://twitter.com/FireMom ) from Stop, Drop and Blog ( http://stopdropandblog.com ) and The Chronicles of Munchkin Land ( http://thechroniclesofmunchkinland.com )