Can you get pregnant at any time on your cycle?
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Because I know that there’s a week (before ovulation, I think)
when you’re the most fertile- but if you have sex when you’re not
in that part of your cycle is there a very low chance you’d get pregnant?
I’m just curious.
No, the idea you can get pregnant any time of your cycle is TOTAL MYTH.
This is a half-truth scare tactic taught in schools to get girls to use birth control – of course girls should always use birth control as unless you use Fertility Awareness Methods (FAM – using cervical changes, basal body temperature and secondary fertility signs to determine fertility) there’s no way of knowing for sure when you’re fertile or not…and thus you can get pregnant any time you have sex, because you could be fertile any time without knowing.
But, it’s BIOLOGICALLY IMPOSSIBLE to get pregnant any time of your cycle.
Basically to make a baby you need three things;
1. Sperm
2. Egg(s)
3. Fertile Quality Cervical Mucus.
EGG(S) – You only ovulate once per cycle (two weeks prior to menstruation – roughly day 14 during an average 28 day cycle), during this 24 hour period you can release more than one egg, but each egg only lives for 24 hours, thus there is only an egg present 48 hours max.
FQCM – You get this for about a week leading up to ovulation, this fluid keeps sperm alive within the acidic environment of the vagina, without it sperm cannot survive for more than a few hours, but with it the sperm can live up to 5 days, this fluid also helps sperm reach the egg(s).
Technically speaking you can only get pregnant during ovulation (48 hours with multiple ovulation), but sex while you have FQCM can result in pregnancy if sperm live up to ovulation. But fact is this – no egg, no mucus, no baby.
Collectivly you’re only fertile 7 days – birth control methods like FAM we give a few extra days as a buffer, so we assume it is possible you are fertile for around 10 days – thus during an average 28 day cycle a woman is only fertile about 30% of the time. Any other time she can’t get pregnant.
Two pages from the web site for ‘Taking Charge Of Your Fertility’ by Toni Weschler, MPH (best selling book on FAM) which back this up;
Fertility myths – http://tcoyf.com/content/FertMyths.aspx
Fertility and Cycle FAQs – http://tcoyf.com/content/FertFAQ-FertilityCycles.aspx
Also FAM article from sex education site Scarleteen that explains in depth quite nicely; Get With the Flow: All About FAM – http://www.scarleteen.com/article/body/get_with_the_flow_all_about_fam
Unfortunately although it in theory makes girls more cautious about birth control it also prevents understanding of their bodies and cycles, which isn’t great for long-term sexual/reproductive health. It’s also a common myth that makes no sense when you think about it, but it’s so ingrained no one thinks to question it or accept it may be untrue. At least you’ve had the common sense to question this
Yes. (And it’s during ovulation, not before.)
depends on what kind of cycle you’re riding
Yes there is always a chance