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Pregnancy Risk Assessment: Vaginal Intercourse

Vaginal intercourse -- what people most often call plain old "sex," even though it is only one kind of sex -- is the activity where we are most often going to be at a substantial risk of pregnancy, and the activity through which pregnancy most often occurs. In one year of having vaginal intercourse without using any method of birth control, around 80-90 of every 100 women will become pregnant. Vaginal intercourse also poses high risks of sexually transmitted infections. If you are worried that you may have had a risk through vaginal intercourse, follow through the questions below.

Did you correctly use some form of birth control (contraception) such as the Pill, a diaphragm, Depo-Provera, or other reliable birth control AND a condom for all genital contact and vaginal intercourse?

If you DID use both a reliable method of birth control correctly, and a condom, and the condom did not rip, tear or slip off, then you have NO likely risk of pregnancy.

  • If NOT, keep reading.

Did you correctly use some form of birth control (contraception) such as the Pill, a diaphragm, Depo-Provera, or other reliable birth control AND a condom for all genital contact and vaginal intercourse?

If you DID use a reliable method of birth control correctly, but no condom, then you have a VERY LOW risk of pregnancy.

  • If NOT, keep reading.

Did you correctly use a condom (putting the condom on before any contact between the penis and vaginal area, holding onto the base of the condom during withdrawal, and removing the condom with the penis well away from the vaginal area, noticing no rips or tears), by itself, for vaginal intercourse?

If you DID USE A CONDOM correctly and without failure, but a condom only, then you have a VERY LOW risk of pregnancy.

  • If NOT, keep reading.

Did you attempt correctly use a condom for vaginal intercourse, but had a problem with the condom, such as having the condom break or slip off, or only using the condom for some intercourse, but not all?

If you DID HAVE A PROBLEM WITH YOUR CONDOM, such as breakage or slippage, or did not use a condom for all intercourse or direct genital contact, then you have a MODERATE to HIGH RISK of pregnancy.
Whether your risk was/is moderate or high will depend on your own fertility cycle. If you chart your fertility and know this to have happened during a time when you were not likely to be fertile, the risk will be lower. If you do not chart your fertility, but the risk occurred during the second half of your cycle, it is probably lower.

If it has been less than 120 hours since your risk, you may obtain emergency contraception. If it has been greater than 10 days since your risk, see your health care provider as soon as possible for a pregnancy test and an STI screening.

  • If you DID NOT USE a condom, keep reading.

If a condom or other latex barrier was not used for any kind of male/female sex, but another method of birth control was or is being used -- like the birth control pill, patch or ring, or like a cervical barrier -- to find your level of risk, refer to the effectiveness rating for your method of birth control in perfect or typical use. For the most part, however, when SOME reliable method of birth control has been used properly, no sexual activity is likely to pose more than a low or very low risk.

Did you have unprotected penis-in-vagina intercourse (no condom, no other birth control of any kind), but WITHOUT ejaculation into or onto the vagina or vaginal area?

If you DID have unprotected penis-in-vagina intercourse but the man DID NOT ejaculate, then you have a LOW TO MODERATE risk of pregnancy.
Whether your risk was/is low or moderate will depend on your own fertility cycle. If you chart your fertility and know this to have happened during a time when you were not likely to be fertile, the risk will be lower. If you do not chart your fertility, but the risk occurred during the second half of your cycle, it is probably lower.

If it has been less than 120 hours since your risk, you may obtain emergency contraception. If it has been greater than 10 days since your risk, see your health care provider as soon as possible for a pregnancy test and an STI screening.

  • If NOT, keep reading.

Did you have unprotected penis-in-vagina intercourse (no condom, no other birth control of any kind), including ejaculation into or onto the vagina or vaginal area?

If you had unprotected vaginal intercourse including ejaculation into the vaginal or on the vaginal area, then you have a HIGH to VERY HIGH risk of pregnancy.
Whether your risk was/is high or very high will depend on your own fertility cycle. If you chart your fertility and know this to have happened during a time when you were not likely to be fertile, the risk will be lower. If you do not chart your fertility, but the risk occurred during the second half of your cycle, it is probably lower.

If it has been less than 120 hours since your risk, you may obtain emergency contraception. If it has been greater than 10 days since your risk, see your health care provider as soon as possible for a pregnancy test and an STI screening.

What's The Risk?

Find out - click on the type of sexual activity you want to know about.