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There are many factors to consider when looking at birth control options, and cost is an important one. If the cost is too high, a person is less likely to use a family planning method for a long time or use it consistently. This means that a woman is more likely to be at risk for an unplanned pregnancy.  Women are especially hard hit by this financial burden, since they are most often the ones responsible for making family planning decisions.  

We decided to look at average annual cost, because it is the fairest way of comparing the relative costs of different methods. A method that requires a one time purchase, like an IUD, may have a hefty price of about $700. However, it can be used for as long as 10 years, which makes it somewhat more economical on an annual basis than one might imagine at first - though we should note that the average length of use for an IUD is likely to be much shorter than the 10 years the manufacturer claims. Meanwhile, condoms are cheap individually at about $1.25 per unit on average; however, the annual cost for a year of coverage with condoms might be a higher than expected, given that they must be purchased for every act of intercourse.  

Posted in: Birth Control Cost, Contraceptive Options, Birth Control Options

CycleBeads® and the Standard Days Method® on which it is based are included as a contraceptive option that can help address worldwide family planning needs in a special series on Impatient Optimists, a blog created by The Gates Foundation. The series, called “What’s Your Method?” looks at different family planning technologies and asks experts to write articles explaining these technologies, their benefits, and the challenges with making them available to women globally.

The article, "Keeping An Open Mind: What the Evidence Tells Us About the Standard Days Method" by Victoria Jennings, PhD, and Elaine Murphy, PhD. looks at research which shows that this highly effective fertility awareness-based method attracts new users to family planning and is especially attractive to women and couples who normally wish to avoid hormonal and surgical methods. The Standard Days Method has brought significant numbers of new users to family planning in developing countries and has addressed a number of associated issues in a positive way. 

As stated on the Impatient Optimist blog, “Not every method is right for every woman. A variety of [family planning] options must be available for each woman to find the best fit for her and her family.”

We couldn’t agree more!

Posted in: International Family Planning, Birth Control Options, Contraceptive Options, Womens Health

CycleBeads Myth: You can't have sex often using this method.
Many people look at CycleBeads and since they see that there are 12 days that are indicated as fertile days, they think that people must not have much sex when using this method.

The Truth: Let’s be clear. Couples can have sex during the fertile days, but if they don’t want to become pregnant, they should use a back-up method such as condoms. Interestingly research has shown that even when couples using this method are abstaining during the fertile days they have sex just as often as other couples, they just time it differently during a woman’s cycle.

A 2005 study conducted by researchers at Georgetown University’s Institute for Reproductive Health found that couples who use fertility awareness-based methods of family planning and specifically CycleBeads to prevent pregnancy engage in more frequent sex before and after the fertile time, and have less sex during fertile days. Frequency of intercourse over the course of a woman’s entire cycle is comparable to those of couples using other methods of family planning.

Posted in: Contraceptive Options, CycleBeads

Two recent studies conducted by researchers at the Institute for Reproductive Health (IRH) at Georgetown University looked at integrating the Standard Days Method® using CycleBeads® into health programs. Results showed that offering this fertility awareness-based family planning method brought new users to family planning and increased overall contraceptive use in general.  It also helps programs fulfill their missions of offering a full range of family planning options by enabling them to offer a non-hormonal, effective option. However, the studies also highlight some of the challenges with introducing a new fertility awareness-based method.

Posted in: CycleBeads, Research, Interviews with Health Providers, Contraceptive Options

Recently we asked women to tell us if they were using CycleBeads to plan or prevent a pregnancy.  The survey results showed that approximately 3/4 of women use CycleBeads to prevent pregnancy while about 1/4 use CycleBeads to plan a pregnancy.  We then asked those women who are using CycleBeads as contraception to tell us why they chose this natural family planning option. The answers were overwhelming health reasons such as to "avoid side effects" or because of "concerns about specific health risks".  See the graph below for more detailed results.

Posted in: Birth Control Effectiveness, Contraceptive Options, Research, Birth Control Side Effects

To avoid side effects?  To save money?  For some other reason?  Everyone is different!  

We recently polled CycleBeads users about whether they use CycleBeads to plan or prevent pregnancy. Most users (approximately 75%) said they chose CycleBeads to prevent pregnancy.  So please tell us why you use CycleBeads as your birth control method in our anonymous survey!

Survey: Reasons for Choosing CycleBeads

Check back for the survey results.

Posted in: Birth Control Options, Contraceptive Options, Fertility Awareness, CycleBeads, Natural Birth Control

CycleBeads is a fertility awareness tool that can be used either to PLAN or PREVENT pregnancy. We were interested to find out how women were actually using CycleBeads, so we recently surveyed CycleBeads users. We found that most users, approximately three-quarters, were using CycleBeads (or an iCycleBeads app) to prevent pregnancy. In other words, most had chosen CycleBeads as their birth control method. Approximately one-quarter were using CycleBeads to plan a pregnancy, and a very small percentage were using CycleBeads simply to track their cycles. Interestingly, these results remain consistent with results from surveys in previous years.

Posted in: Birth Control Options, Contraceptive Options, CycleBeads, Fertility Awareness, Natural Birth Control, Womens Health

Using a condom correctly is difficult according to a recent study in the journal Sexual Health. Led by the Kinsey Institute Condom Use Research Team, the study compared 50 research articles across multiple countries and found that incorrect use of condoms is prevalent and causing unintended pregnancies and infections.

Posted in: Birth Control Effectiveness, Contraceptive Options, Research

In a recent TEDTalk, Melinda Gates eloquently outlined why contraception should not be considered a "controversial" topic and the importance of giving people everywhere access to a full range of family planning options.  Thank you Ms. Gates, for your willingness to lend your voice to this important issue... And of course, we were thrilled that CycleBeads were included among the full range of family planning options!

Posted in: Contraceptive Options, CycleBeads, International Family Planning, Womens Health, Education

While unplanned pregnancies among teens in the U.S. is at the lowest rate in years, American teenagers are still getting pregnant at a much higher rate than their counterparts in other countries – 3x more often than teens in Germany and France, and 4x more often than teens in the Netherlands. In 2010, unplanned pregnancies among U.S. teens dropped to 34.3 births per 1,000 girls aged 15-19 according to the most recent health statistics. That’s great news, but it’s still the highest teen pregnancy rate among developed nations.

Posted in: Birth Control Effectiveness, Birth Control Options, Contraceptive Options, International Family Planning, Womens Health