Contraception is the deliberate use of methods, devices, or behaviors to prevent pregnancy, enabling individuals and couples to plan whether and when to have children. Methods are grouped into hormonal approaches such as oral contraceptive pills, injectables, and implants; long-acting reversible methods including in…
Contraception is the deliberate use of methods, devices, or behaviors to prevent pregnancy, enabling individuals and couples to plan whether and when to have children. Methods are grouped into hormonal approaches such as oral contraceptive pills, injectables, and implants; long-acting reversible methods including intrauterine devices; barrier methods such as condoms, which also reduce transmission of sexually transmitted infections; permanent surgical methods; and fertility-awareness and behavioral approaches. Each differs in mechanism, effectiveness, reversibility, side-effect profile, and suitability for particular circumstances, including provision after abortion or following sexual assault. As a core component of reproductive health and public health, contraception reduces unintended pregnancies, unsafe abortions, and maternal and infant morbidity, and supports the health, education, and economic well-being of women and families. Its uptake is shaped by knowledge, access, services, and social, cultural, and religious factors. Research relevant to this topic includes post-abortion contraception models to improve safe abortion care, factors influencing decisions about unwanted pregnancy, reproductive-health knowledge and service utilization among adolescents and rural populations, the influence of family planning and religious belief on family growth, sexual and reproductive health education, and the physiological effects of hormonal contraceptives on the reproductive axis.
11 peer-reviewed articles, ranked by relevance. Each links to its DOI.
The 11 articles above have been cited 41 times in the scholarly literature. Citation data via OpenAlex and Crossref, updated Jun 2026.
A sample of recent works citing this journal's research on Contraception, linking to each citing work.