It occurs extra usually than you would possibly suppose. Almost half of all pregnancies within the US are unplanned.

“If you’re a girl and haven’t but gone by means of menopause, then it’s potential so that you can turn out to be pregnant,” says Siobhan Dolan, MD, professor of obstetrics and gynecology and ladies's well being at Albert Einstein Faculty of Drugs.

You may solely take steps to extend your possibilities of turning into pregnant if you wish to.

Because the saying goes, the one type of contraception that’s 100% efficient is abstinence. “Principally contraceptiondo work, however 'accidents' can occur,” says Dolan.

Condoms, contraception capsules, intrauterine units (IUDs), and different strategies often work 80% to greater than 90% of the time. And everlasting contraception, resembling sterilization in ladies or vasectomy in males, has a failure price of lower than 1%.

Should you use contraception incorrectly, your probability of turning into pregnant will increase. Typically it's clear that it didn't work, like when a condom breaks. In that case, you could wish to take a second step, such because the over-the-counter “morning after” tablet. It might forestall being pregnant for as much as 5 days after unprotected intercourse. However in case you don't discover an error, resembling a small gap in a condom, or you will have missed your each day tablet, you may turn out to be pregnant.

The most important motive for an unplanned being pregnant isn’t ineffective contraception, however the results of a pair not utilizing it everycontraception. “Some ladies might not use contraception recurrently, and others might not use contraception in any respect,” says Maureen Phipps, MD, chief of obstetrics and gynecology at Girls and Infants Hospital of Rhode Island. “They could not prefer it, they could not have entry to it, or they could also have a companion who doesn't need them to make use of it.”

Typically ladies or their companions aren't certain whether or not they need a baby or not, Phipps says. “They don't plan to [to have a baby], however additionally they don't actively attempt to forestall being pregnant. And finally they get pregnant.”

Some ladies don't understand they will get pregnant. When you’ve got a historical past of infertility, shouldn’t have common intervals, or are in perimenopause (the interval earlier than menopause, which might result in gentle or irregular intervals), it’s nonetheless potential so that you can turn out to be pregnant even in case you don't try this. don't count on it.

Should you're nonetheless getting intervals — even when they aren't common — and also you don't wish to get pregnant, “you need to proceed to make use of contraception,” says Dolan.

When you've gone by means of menopause (that means you've stopped having intervals and it's been a full yr since your interval), it's protected to imagine that you could have intercourse with out contraception and never get pregnant. Nonetheless, you’ll nonetheless want to guard your self in opposition to sexually transmitted ailments.