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from the if-you-build-it-they-will-come dept.
Submitted via IRC for AndyTheAbsurd
After more than a decade of work, government researchers in the U.S. are ready to test an unusual birth control method for men—a topical gel that could prevent the production of sperm.
And no, gentlemen, you don't rub it on your genitals.
The clinical trial, which begins in April and will run for about four years, will be the largest effort in the U.S. to test a hormonal form of birth control for men.
[...] The new gel contains two synthetic hormones, progestin and testosterone. Progestin blocks the testes from making enough testosterone to produce normal levels of sperm. The replacement testosterone is needed to counteract the hormone imbalances the progestin causes but won't make the body produce sperm.
[...] The gel can suppress sperm levels for about 72 hours, so if men forget a dose, "there is a bit of forgiveness," says Régine Sitruk-Ware, distinguished scientist at the Population Council, a nonprofit for reproductive health that is sponsoring the trial alongside the NIH.
[...] Even if the trial is successful, Blithe says it will likely be several years before the gel would be available to the public.
Source: A Contraceptive Gel for Men Is About to Go on Trial (archive)
(Score: 4, Informative) by Magic Oddball on Friday December 22 2017, @12:24AM
Only if they can afford the cost, can get the time off from work to travel far enough to reach a clinic/hospital that offers abortions** and have someone to look after their existing kids (most abortions being performed on mothers) during the trip & while the pills do their thing (if they use that form).
**Back in 2014, before many states added laws & regulations that closed a lot of providers, many women had to travel 30 - 180+ miles [shinyapps.io] for one. That doesn't take into account teenagers in states that require parental permission, which could cause some girls to travel much farther to reach a clinic/hospital in a state that doesn't require it (e.g. if the girl fled an abusive home).
As they say, anecdotes are not data. ;-) I looked it up, and it turns out that child custody only goes to trial
4% of the time, with 1.5% completing the process [liveabout.com] — 51% of the time, both the mother & father already agreed on custody arrangements, 29% of the time they handled it without involving a third party, and 11% sorted it out with a mediator. The rare times that custody disputes do reach the court system, the arrangement hinges on which parent has been the primary caregiver and which has the strongest bond with the kid [divorcenet.com] along with individual circumstances. Most states no longer honor the old idea that the child should automatically be with the mother, and some states have actively outlawed that approach.