Tausi Insider

Photo : Image Point Fr ( Shutterstock ) One of the most important things to know when choosing a method of birth control is how well it works. That’s especially important in a country where childbirth is expensive , maternal mortality is shockingly high , and our options for abortion are limited and shrinking . No contraceptive method is perfect, of course. A birth control method’s effectiveness is measured in two ways. One is the “perfect use” rate, which reflects the chances of having a baby when you do everything right every single time: you never miss a pill or forget to use a condom, for example. Everything works as designed. These calculations often reflect very low failure rates. But then there is the “typical use” statistic, which gives the failure rate that people actually experience in the real world when attempting to use that method. This includes all the variables that perfect use doesn’t capture. Maybe you forget to use it or don’t bother to use it consistently; or m...