Birth Control

If you do not want to have more children right now, there are steps you can to prevent pregnancy. Birth control is a safe and easy way to do that.

On this page, you will find:

• Basic Information

• Types of Birth Control

• Help and resources

What is Birth Control?

The point of birth control, sometimes called "contraception", is to stop pregnancy from happening by preventing a sperm and an egg from meeting. There are a lot of different birth control methods. Some have hormones, others don't. Some work by keeping the sperm from reaching the egg, while others stop women's bodies from releasing an egg every month.

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Something to keep in mind is, even if you are pregnant, you still need to protect against sexually transmitted infections (STIs). The condom is the only birth control method that does that.

Methods

Every body is different, so there is not single birth control method that is better than others--it depends on what you want and need. Your doctor can help you decide, but you can start by thinking about some questions:

1. Do you want to have more children?

2.  If you do want more children, when do you want to get pregnant?

3. How often do you want to take the method?

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To explore methods, you can visit uchoosebaltimore.org. There, you sort methods by what matters to you most and you can also find clinics that will take care of your sexual and reproductive health needs.