Wednesday, August 25, 1999
Contraceptive for males is still in works
BY SUE MacDONALD
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Whatever happened to contraceptives for men?
The idea hasn't disappeared, but it's no secret that the responsibility for preventing pregnancy and reducing the spread of sexually transmitted diseases is primarily a woman's job.
“The male contraceptive never took off because no one ever quite perfected it,” says Dr. Arthur Ollendorff, obstetrician-gynecologist at the UC Medical Center.
But male contraceptives are still a possibility, says Dr. Robert Rebar, director of obstetrics/gynecology at UC and medical director for Planned Parenthood. He predicts that the first male contraceptive might be available sometime after the year 2000. Sheer logistics make it easier to develop birth-control methods for women, he points out.
“It's easier to stop one egg from ovulating each month than it is to stop millions of sperm from being produced every day,” he says.
Most of the male contraceptives being studied and tested are hormone drugs. The goal is to stop the production of sperm without causing side effects, impotence or other problems. One company, for example, is working on an implant that would suppress sperm production in men.
As with female forms of birth control, habits, personalities and opinions about different methods play a role. A Seattle study in the July/August Family Planning Perspectives, for example, found that women rank pregnancy prevention first and STD prevention second when choosing a birth control method, while men rank them equally.
Regardless, contraceptive options for men are probably several years away, doctors agree.
“If you're a male, you have two choices — condoms or a vasectomy,” Dr. Ollendorff says.
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