The issue of NOT having a baby ranges from preventing pregnancy by abstaining from sex, to having sex but using various means not to have fertilization, to ways of ending an unwanted pregnancy.

Abstinence is, of course, 100 % effective to prevent an unplanned pregnancy if practiced faithfully.  However, there is no data on pregnancies related to women giving up abstinence, perhaps having only a single lapse, and then becoming pregnant.  And, no educational program focusing exclusively on abstinence has shown success in delaying onset of sexual activity.

Therefore, many types of contraception have emerged to increase the probability that an unwanted pregnancy does not occur.  I will not discuss here the efficacy and hazards of the many various methods women use, including the rhythm method, withdrawal, condoms, oral substances, and implanted devices, except to say that oral contraceptives taken by women are very popular and effective in actual practice about 92.5% of the time.  Female sterilization is effective about 99.5% of the time.

The “morning after” pill (or “emergency contraception” pill) was developed for situations of unprotected sex and when contraception methods (such as condoms) failed.  There followed the RU-486 abortion pill (now 2 pills) which is intended to abort a pregnancy of up to 10 weeks of gestation. Alternatively, various surgical abortion techniques are used, depending on the stage of gestation, some quite horrifying. I discuss these practices and survivors of abortion in my book.