Birth control for men?

In 1960, women were given "the pill." It changed women's sexuality and allowed for women's liberation movements. Now, ore than 40 years later, men may be given their turn.

Since women have had the pill available to them, they have seen many other forms of birth control options pop up for them, including an injection, a ring and a patch. Men, all through this time, have had two options: a condom or a vasectomy. Both have received less-than-positive attention; condoms for being uncomfortable and a vasectomy for being too painful.

Now, after 40 years, scientists may have a legitimate birth control pill for men. The pill works similarly to the women's pill.

The female contraceptive uses hormones, estrogens and progestins to shut off the release of eggs to prevent pregnancy. The same idea is applied to men's contraceptives: hormones, such as testosterone and progestins, are used to turn off the production of sperm.

Other options are being researched that would avoid altering hormones, which has been shown to have some negative side-effects. New research at Northfolk State University is being done that would disable the sperm in finding the egg.

Joseph Hall, Ph.D of the NSU Center for Biotechnology and Biomedical Sciences, told an Indiana newspaper that his group is working to create a safer form of birth control for men.

"Basically, what we are trying to do, create, is a blind sperm; a sperm that can't recognize the egg," he told the newspaper.

However, this approach to male birth control is still in the research stages, and has a 92-percent effective rate on rats, and a 98-percent effective rate in petri dishes. The scientists at Northfolk went back to the drawing board, aiming to find the key to creating a birth control with 100-percent effectiveness.

Some men are pleased to hear the decision about birth control will be left up to them.

"You got the assurance," said John Jarman, a Weber State University criminal justice freshman, "The girl might lie to you about being on birth control."

Jesse Burg, a criminal justice senior, said he wouldn't mind taking male birth control.

"You don't have to worry about a condom," he said. He also said that he wouldn't feel uncomfortable with the pill altering his hormones unless it was permanent.

The men's hormone birth control, however, does not have the same effectiveness of the pill women have been using for years. It has only been proven to be 98-percent effective, where the women's pill is 99.9-percent effective.

Eddie Plenty, a WSU senior, said he wouldn't mind taking birth-control pills. He said the 98-percent rate would not affect his decision to take male birth control if it became available.

"Nothing is ever going to be 100 percent," he said, "There's always going to be that chance."