With so many methods available and so many factors to consider, choosing birth control can be difficult. You may be able to decide on a method by asking yourself the following questions.

Might I want to have a biological child in the future?

One of your first considerations might be to determine whether you want permanent or temporary birth control. In other words, you should consider whether you want to conceive any (or more) children. This is a decision that will affect the rest of your life and can be made only after thinking it through carefully.

If you know that you will not ever want to conceive a pregnancy, tubal ligation or tubal implants for you or a vasectomy for your partner is a reasonable option to consider.

If you are not sure about the future even though you know how you feel now, a temporary method is a better choice. If you are young, have few or no children, are choosing sterilization because your partner wants it, or think it will solve money or relationship problems, you may regret your decision later.

How would an unplanned pregnancy affect my life?

If an unplanned pregnancy would seriously impact your plans for the future, choose a birth control method that is highly effective. Or, if you have a stable relationship and income and plan to have children in the future anyway, you may feel comfortable using a less reliable method.

How effective are different types of birth control?

See a table showing the birth control failure rates of each method.

Hormonal injections (Depo-Provera) and the hormonal and copper IUDs are highly effective methods of birth control (97% and 99.9% effective). That means fewer than 1 to 3 out of 100 women using these methods will become pregnant in a year.⁷

Birth control pills (both combination and progestin-only) have a high success rate of 92%. That means that 8 out of every 100 women taking pills become pregnant in a year. If taken carefully every day or at the same time every day, birth control pills are over 99% effective.⁷ The hormonal skin patch and vaginal ring are thought to be about as effective as birth control pills.

Barrier methods , including the diaphragm, cervical cap, Lea's Shield, male condom, female condom, and spermicide, are moderately successful at preventing pregnancy. The diaphragm and cervical cap are 84% effective for women who have not had a vaginal childbirth. This means that of all such women using a diaphragm or cap, 16 out of every 100 get pregnant in a year.⁷ Women who have delivered a baby vaginally have lower rates of success with diaphragms and cervical caps.⁷ These methods are more effective when they are used every time you have sex and when they are fitted correctly. Some women find it hard to plan ahead or to interrupt an intimate moment before having sex to use a barrier method.