Quote:
Originally posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy
Note that if the pill doesn't work 1 out of 1000 times, and you have sex, on average, just 10 times per month, the odds are that you will produce a child every eight years.
Another way of thinking of it: If it costs about $250,000 in present value to raise a child, and the pill doesn't work 1 out of 1000 times, you should assume the child-rearing "cost" of each roll in the hay while on the pill is about $250.
Just so you enter your relationships with open eyes.
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An interesting analysis, but based on flawed assumptions.
The failure rate statistics are for number of women per 100 using a type of birth control who become pregnant
per year. Recently, such statistics are generally cited in pairs for each type of birth control: "real world" usage and optimal usage. For birth control types that require continual maintenance (the pill) or successful application each time (condoms, diaphrams, etc.) the real world failure rate is significantly higher. For more or less permenant forms (Norplant, IUD, snip) the failure rate is virtually identical.
The failure rate of the pill in ideal circumstances is indeed somewhere in the 1-2 per thousand range. Practically, however, it is more in the 50-80 per thousand, due to forgotten pills. The only forms that get to real world 1-2 per thousand are Norplant and IUDs (even snipping is less reliable).
How do I know all this crap? The baltspouse has been looking at alternatives to the pill, and all the literature she brought home from the GYN has these statistics in it.
