Male Birth Control Pills Inching Closer To A Reality

Since the 1960s, women have been afforded the convenience of taking oral contraceptives,but soon it may be men who take the pills. Researchers are getting closer and closer to a viable product — but will it catch on?

Many men are hesitant to use current contraceptive methods so this new form may be too foreign for them. Forty-year-oldScott Hardin told MSNBC he’s glad that men may soon have a new choice for birth control but he also mentioned he would not even consider taking a male hormonal contraceptive.

But Dr. Debra J. Wolgemuth and her team of researchers at the Columbia University Medical Center are hoping more men will have an open mind. They’re “working on a pill that not only retards and renews sperm production after taking a pill or stopping to dose, respectively, but also has no apparent side effects to boot,” reports Divice.

Currently, the medication has only been tested on mice, but they are being developed to be a non-steroidal pill in the hopes of reducing side effects. There are also plans to create patches, gels and an injection that would last for three months similar to existing options that are available to women . But as nice as these options are, too often pregnancy becomes a woman’s burden. If a woman reserves the right to make the call on whether she will keep a baby or not, then she has to bear the responsibility of not getting pregnant if she doesn’t want a child,” one man told Essence.

So even after these pills hit the shelves women should continue to think in their best interests and be proactive in protecting themselves from unwanted pregnancies.

Source