



A shocking stat recently caught Cosmo's eye: Nearly half of all unplanned pregnancies among young, sexually active women are due to birth-control lapses and screwups, according to a report by the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive-health organization. Even worse, many more women are conceiving because they are not using any birth control at all.

Granted, contraception can be annoying and even clumsy, but this info leaves us dumbfounded. If you don't want to get pregnant at this point in your life, you need to do everything you can to protect yourself. (About 3 million young women deal with an accidental pregnancy each year.) According to women's health experts, there are lots of reasons smart females kid themselves into thinking they won't conceive. Study the following ones closely.

ACCIDENT WAITING TO HAPPEN 1: You Play Roulette with the Pill

Maybe you skip a pill every now and again, thinking one missed dose can't really affect your chances of conceiving. Or you've recently gone off oral contraceptives, and you assume that there must be some grace period before you ovulate again. Hey, lots of women thought the same thing...and they got pregnant.

Make no mistake about it: Forgetting even one combined-hormone pill and not making up for it within 24 hours by taking another (and then doubling up with condoms for the next seven days to be safe) can, in rare cases, allow your ovary to release an egg, says Mary Jane Minkin, MD, clinical professor of ob-gyn at Yale University School of Medicine. And if you're on progestin-only pills, they must be taken at exactly the same time each day.

Let's clear this up as well: There's no grace period during which you can't conceive after going off the Pill; as we explained before, your body can ovulate after just one Pill-free day. So use another similarly reliable method the very day you intentionally go off the Pill.

If you find yourself forgetting, switch to a birth-control method that you don't have to deal with daily, such as the contraceptive ring (a hormonal device you insert near your cervix each month) or the Depo-Provera shot (which delivers a dose of progesterone that leaves you protected for three months). Another option: an IUD, a device that is 99 percent effective for up to five years. Your gyno inserts it into your uterus during a quick office visit.

ACCIDENT WAITING TO HAPPEN 2: You're Not Having Much Sex, So You Don't Carry Any Protection

Without a semisteady partner, staying baby-free probably won't be a big issue. Why shell out cash and commit to contraception if you're not even sure when your next hookup will be?

Here's why: Because when you do have sex, it's likely to happen unexpectedly. In the heat of the moment, if you don't have birth control handy, you may be tempted to go without.

Look, it's easy. Keep a stash of latex condoms in your bedroom and a few in your purse. Besides being an inexpensive form of pregnancy prevention (and if used correctly, they are 98 percent effective), condoms will significantly reduce — although not eliminate — your chances of contracting an STD. "Condoms should be your method of choice if you don't know your partner's STD status," explains Vanessa Cullins, MD, vice president for medical affairs at Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

Chris Clinton

ACCIDENT WAITING TO HAPPEN 3: You Aren't Vigilant Because You Maybe Want a Baby Now

It's normal to have conflicting feelings about whether you're really ready to have kids at this point in your life. But unless you are certain you want to become a mother in the very near future and your guy is supportive, keep using contraception every single time. If you aren't sure what you want, use birth control until you do decide you're truly ready for momdom.

ACCIDENT WAITING TO HAPPEN 4: Your Life Has Been Thrown for a Loop, and Contraception Is the Furthest Thing from Your Mind

You know how when something major goes down in your life — for example, you find out you've lost your job or a family member suddenly becomes sick — your usual routine often falls by the wayside as you try to deal? Well, a woman's birth-control routine is one of the things that tends to get lost in the shuffle early on.

After a life-changing event or experience preoccupies a woman's mind, it's common for her contraception habits to change unconsciously, becoming erratic or nonexistent, explains Jennifer Frost, senior researcher at the Guttmacher Institute and one of the study's authors.

The trick is to recognize when your life has been thrown into upheaval, then be extravigilant about protection. That may mean switching from a birth-control method you have to take care of daily or weekly — such as the Pill or the patch — to something that requires little to no attention, like the contraceptive ring (which you insert monthly), the every-three-months Depo-Provera shot, or an IUD, which protects you for years.

ACCIDENT WAITING TO HAPPEN 5: You Can't Find a Contraceptive Method You Actually Like

If you don't like your contraception — i.e., the Pill's side effects (such as breakthrough bleeding) annoy you or inserting a new vaginal ring below your cervix every month weirds you out — you'll be less likely to use it, and your babymaking odds will soar.

Make an appointment with your gyno and ask her if she can help you find birth control that works with your lifestyle and preferences, says Dr. Cullins. Get an overview of what's out there at plannedparenthood.org. (Click on the "birth control" link.) Just keep in mind that if you're not in a monogamous relationship with a guy who is STD-free, then you must stick with condoms each and every time.

Rachel Grumman Rachel Grumman is a freelance beauty writer in New York.

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