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Added a section on statistical implications of contraceptive failure rate
*Male Sterilization
*Male Sterilization
*Female Sterilization
*Female Sterilization
==Statistical implications of failure rate==
The apparently low failure rates imply to many people that there should be almost no failure.
However, there is a difference between the lowest observed failure rate (theoretical rate), which is the rate typically reported in controlled studies of the method, and the failure rate for typical users (actual rate), which is the rate reported 'in the field' (i.e., forgetting to take pill).
Failure Rate is defined as (pregnancies / 100 woman-years (%) )
Thus a 5% failure rate means that if 100 women used this form of contraception, 5 would be pregnant within one year.
But sexually active fertile women are not only sexually active and fertile for one year. That time of their lives can go on for as long as thirty years. Women are warned not to stop taking contraceptive precautions until they have not had a menstrual period for one year.
Government statistics [http://www.census.gov/population/socdemo/voting/proj00/tab01.txt] tell us that the female population of the US aged between 18 and 45 is 37,170,000. The figure for sexually active fertile women is higher than that because some younger girls have sex, but these are the least likely to use contraception, and the focus here is on the implications of contraceptive failure rates.
If 20% of these women are not sexually active or fertile, this leaves 29,736,000. If every one of those women were using the pill – the most reliable method of contraception – as efficiently as possible, a failure rate of 0.1% would mean that there were 29,736 unintended pregnancies every year. A failure rate of 2% would mean that there were 594,720 unintended pregnancies every year. However, some women use diaphragms and condoms, for which the failure rate is much higher.
These figures assume conservative estimates of sexual activity, and a higher than probable rate of efficient contraceptive usage.
== Religious Perspectives ==
== Religious Perspectives ==