Since the development of effective birth control other than abstinence (which always works), times of upheaval that disrupt supply delivery and medical care have caused spikes in birth rates. (I’ve heard extended power outages do the same thing; but that might be just an urban legend.) What’s a prepper to do if a pregnancy is not desired at this time but physical intimacy is? Can we prep to allow that?
Some preppers might want more choices about how and when the family grows; especially given the health risks of pregnancy without good medical care. (5)
The answers here depend on the time line of the scenario. In the long term, a SHTF situation where the supplies and medical care don’t come back, the only real answers might be abstinence, surgical solutions, and natural family planning In the shorter term, up to a few years’ worth of disruption, we can be prepared if we take action now. This post is about how various pre-conception methods of birth control stack up with regards to ‘stock up potential’. Wait, you want to know more about the natural family planning? You can find it here:
I’m not a doctor and this isn’t medical advice; it’s a summary of information I hunted up that you might find relevant. I print the most reliable information I could find but I can’t guarantee anything. Also keep in mind that the methods vary in their reliability under the best of conditions, so the only piece of the problem we’re addressing here is how long that reliability can be maintained. We here at 3BY (Beans, Bullets, Bandages, and You) have no financial interest in any products; so all mentions are free from commercial motivation.
Condoms
First and most obvious is condoms. How long do they last? Latex isn’t a ‘forever stable’ material. According to a wide variety of sources, 3-5 years of storage is about as long as a male condom remains trustworthy. The versions that include spermicide have a higher reliability, but the spermicide is not completely latex-friendly, so these should not be relied upon for more than three years. Female condoms are reported to have a three year lifespan.
Hormone treatments: Implants or pills
Whether implanted or taken by mouth, the story here is about what you’d expect: As long as the supply holds out, the protection is maintained. It’s hard to stock pills since they are by prescription only, but perhaps you have a prepper-friendly physician who will help out. Those implants placed under the skin (Norplant was the first example) run out of hormone about when the implanting physician told you they would (3-5 yrs post-implantation) and aren’t expected to have significant residual effects.
Diaphragms, cervical caps
These are devices women implant just prior to sexual activity. They’re often used in conjunction with spermicide. Since they’re made of latex or something similar, they don’t tend to retain their shape (important for their function) for much over a year. Also, most models must be closely fitted, so become less reliable if there’s more than seven pounds of weight loss or gain, or other changes in cervical size such as those that accompany pregnancy and childbirth. (1) There is one model, the Caya contoured diaphragm, that is ‘one size fits most’. I have a hypothesis that this would mean it is less affected by weight changes and such, and might even retain viability for longer; but that’s no more than an educated guess on my part. The people testing these things aren’t prepper-minded, it seems.
Cervical caps (diaphragms) don’t last for many years, but one could put a few in storage. I’d make it dark and low-oxygen storage if I were trying it.
Spermicides
Commercial spermicides all carry their expiration dates, so check when you buy. From what I could read, I suspect these expiration dates are fairly real and the preparations are likely to lose effect thereafter.
I did find one recipe for homemade spermicide that might be useful to those in the south (it uses lemon juice). It was reported in the Family Practice Notebook (2), but they could not speak to how well it worked (if at all). The recipe was to combine 1 tablespoon aloe vera gel with 3 drops of lemon juice. It also said not to refrigerate it for more than 72 hrs; which I took to mean that it could be refrigerated for a day or two. Where would a prepper get aloe vera gel? There’s a post on that nifty plant here:
PrepperMed 101: A Scientific Look At Aloe Vera, A Herbal Remedy Approved Both By Science & Mom
Intrauterine devices, IUDs (also known as The Coil)
These are reported the be the most effective reversible birth control option (surgery being considered non-reversible, and abstinence not being counted by the people doing the reporting). They do need to be implanted by a professional. Once there, they are effective for a number of years. For example, the FDA has accepted manufacturer claims for Mirena (hormone coated) lasting five years, and Paragard (a copper model) lasting for ten. Some models slowly release hormones that thicken the mucous layer (to stop the sperm from swimming up to find the egg), while others are made of copper (which is toxic to sperm which must swim past to get to the egg).
This is what IUDs look like when in place. They’re placed by a professional and are effective for years.(4)
Reviews of multiple studies support the idea that IUDs actually work for longer than the official claims, although the evidence isn’t conclusive yet. (3) This works best in older women. Women over 35 had Mirena working for at least 7 yrs, and Paragard for 12. Some models of copper IUDs were effective from when the women were 35 yrs old until they hit menopause.
So what’s the takeaway message? So long as the disaster is not too prolonged, preppers can have a good chance of being able to decide on whether to add a child to the family without stopping intimacy. Choices reduce stress, so although this isn’t a ‘classic’ part of disaster preparedness, it may well be worth a little attention now.
1) UK’s National Health Service: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/contraception/contraceptive-diaphragm-or-cap/. Accessed 1-21-18.
2) The primary reference read: Summerhayes (1999) CMEA Women’s Health, San Diego. I couldn’t track that down. The recipe was reported in the Family Practice Notebook http://www.fpnotebook.com/gyn/Contraception/VgnlSprmcd.htm. Accessed 1-21-18.
3) Wu, Justine P. et al. Extended use of the intrauterine device: a literature review and recommendations for clinical practice. Contraception , Volume 89 , Issue 6 , 495 – 503.
4) Thanks for the image to Blausen.com staff (2014). “Medical gallery of Blausen Medical 2014“. WikiJournal of Medicine 1 (2). DOI:10.15347/wjm/2014.010. ISSN 2002-4436.
5) Sean McGrath from Saint John, NB, Canada (Maternity Curves) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
IUDs cause abortions. That is how they work. The chemical method of IUD only works for 1.5 years. After that it is always working by causing and early abortion. I am a certified CCL instructor of NFP.
This claim about IUDs has been around a long while, but the evidence just doesn’t support it. When they first became popular, IUDs were thought to work by keeping fertilized eggs from developing in the uterus. In fact, that’s what I was taught about them many years ago. There’s been a lot of specific research since, though, and it turns out that is definitely not where IUDs get their high level of effectiveness.
No matter how you look at it, IUDs are getting the vast majority of their activity from stopping fertilization from occurring in the first place. Direct evidence of this includes: Women with IUDs in place don’t have functional eggs in their fallopian tubes (where fertilization would have to take place). Sperm mostly die in the presence of IUDs; and those that don’t are not successful in seeking eggs and moving up the fallopian tubes to fertilize. Sperm can’t swim through the quality of mucus found in the uterus of women who are on IUDs. Women on IUDs don’t release hCG even in tiny amounts, and that response is about the first thing early embryos do. No evidence of fertilized eggs or embryos, either killed in the uterus (where the dead sperm were discovered) or expelled, was found. Here are some of the sources I read supporting this before I got convinced and stopped; I found no contradictory evidence:
Ortiz, ME, Croxatto HB. Copper T intrauterine device and levonorgestrel intrauterine system: biological basis of their mechanism of action. Contraception 2007; 75:S16–S30.
Segal SJ, Alvarez-Sanchez F, Adejuwon CA, et al. Absence of chorionic gonadotropin in sera of women who use intrauterine devices. Fertil Steril 1985;44:214–8. 32.
Wilcox AJ, Weinberg CR, Wehmann RE, et al. Measuring early pregnancy loss: laboratory and field methods. Fertil Steril 1985;44:366–74.
Bahamondes L, et al. Use of the levonorgestrel-releasing intrauterine system in women with endometriosis, chronic pelvic pain and dysmenorrhea. Contraception 2007;75(6)
There’s also some indirect evidence, in that IUDs do lose efficiency after several years; and their loss of efficiency is greater in younger women than older. This is not at all the trend that would be expected if inflammation from the presence of the IUD was triggering miscarriage, as the ‘IUDs cause abortions’ hypothesis proposed. Inflammation from a foreign body does not hold at a low grade for 5-10 years then spontaneously fade away. It’s also been found that ⅔ of cases where women with IUDs have gotten pregnant (the method is a bit over 99% effective; the best available method but not perfect), the IUDs were not placed as intended – which is consistent with the sperm blocking mechanism, but not an inflammatory mechanism. (nal, M. M., Ertopçu, K., Özelmas, I., Ertopçu, K., & Ozelmas, I. (2005). The evaluation of 318 intrauterine pregnancy cases with an intrauterine device. European Journal Of Contraception & Reproductive Health Care, 10(4), 266-271. doi:10.1080/13625180500195340)
Does this mean it could never happen that a woman on an IUD did manage to have live sperm make it up the fallopian tube and fertilize an egg that later died? No. What it means is that people who’ve looked hard at the evidence don’t see cases of that, but see lots of indications of pre-fertilization blocks to conception — leading to the conclusion that the efficiency of IUDs is not from causing abortions, but preventing pregnancies from starting. I would not, as a matter of personal decision, help promote any methods of post-conception birth prevention, but I don’t see the evidence to say IUDs do this.