Hormonal Methods
Hormonal methods work in different ways depending on the method being used. The two main ways most of the hormonal methods can work to prevent pregnancy are:
- They keep eggs from leaving the ovary.
- They change the mucus made in the cervix so that sperm can't live and travel through it to get to the egg. (The cervix is the bottom part of the uterus that is at the back of the vagina.)
Another way some of the hormonal methods may work is to cause the lining of the uterus to begin to thin. This can prevent the fertilized eggs from attaching to it and growing. The chance of a method working in this way is very unlikely.
The hormones in these methods are very much like the horomones estrogen and preogesterone that are made naturally in every woman's body. Estrogen and progestoran are chemicals made in the ovaries that send special messages to the other parts of a woman's body to prepare it for the possibility of becoming pregnant. However, when hormonal methods are used, they stop the woman's body from making the right amount of these hormones. This causes changes in the woman's body that stop her from becoming pregnant.
Hormonal methods work very well to prevent pregnancy, but do not protect against HIV or other sexually transmitted diseases. If a woman is concerned that she might get a sexually transmitted disease from her partner, they should use condoms.
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