Male contraceptives
For men consent to sex is consent to parenthood. Once a woman is pregnant virtually all jurisdictions will disallow a man to abrogate his parental responsibility through legal parental surrender. As a result men should be wary of the possibility of female partners falling pregnant without their consent and subjecting them to 18-25 years of financial support for the resulting children.
Advances in male contraceptives promise to reduce the chances of a baby trap. WebMD lists four current male contraceptives:[1]
- Condoms
- Vasectomy
- Outercourse (aka Abstinence)
- Withdrawal
In addition to these, exposing the testicles to heat, such as in a series of hot baths, has been shown to reduce male fertility. The temperature must be high enough to kill sperm and/or prevent their production but not so high as to harm the host. Anyone considering using heat-based contraceptives is strongly recommended to research the topic thoroughly. Currently international health agencies do not recommend heat based male contraceptives.