Both male and female birth control options are available in plenty and it is up to the individual to decide what he or she would prefer to utilize.  There are a few factors you need to consider before you can pinpoint one of the birth control options as the best for you. These include your feelings about planning for sex, how comfortable you are with having a foreign object inserted into your body as a contraceptive device, effectiveness of the method in preventing pregnancy, and the frequency of sex amongst others. In the US, the birth control pill is the most popular contraceptive followed by tubal sterilization and the male condom.

Other available birth control options are vasectomy, injectable contraception, withdrawal method, IUD, and the diaphragm besides abstinence. If you are someone who is looking for temporary birth control and intend to have children in the future, then tubal sterilization and vasectomy are not ideal solutions for you. Irrespective of the kind of birth control options you choose, it is essential to remember that most of these are not protection against sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). Condoms are one form of birth control that offer the most protection against STDs.

Some of the birth control options can be obtained over the counter while others have to be either prescribed by a doctor or fitted by one. Natural birth control options may require more self control and will tend to be less effective in the long run than other methods. This is because this method revolves around a woman’s cycle which can be quite unpredictable. There are various success rates for each birth control option. Oral contraceptives, vaginal contraceptive ring, hormone implants, hormone shots, IUD and the contraceptive patch have been found to have caused the least number of pregnancies in any given year.