The most advanced progress in male contraception is on the hormonal front, Dr. Brian Nguyen, an Ob-Gyn and assistant professor with the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California, tells The Times.
He is on a team conducting clinical trials with the Center for Male Contraceptive Research and Development, an international network of professionals supporting advances in male contraception. It is sponsored by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
They are actively recruiting for volunteers in Torrance in Los Angeles County, as well as in Sacramento. The study involves a hormonal drug that suppresses all the signaling for sperm development.
But the quest for birth control to be used by sperm-producing partners means so much more than giving people options; it’s about equality for everyone, experts say. They argue that discussions tend to portray reproductive rights as a women’s rights issue. While that is true, both men and women benefit from expanded reproductive autonomy.
“We’re only really giving half of the population the tools they need to prevent an unintended pregnancy,” Heather Vahdat, the executive director of the Male Contraceptive Initiative, tells The Times.
One of the most promising ongoing trials conducted by Nguyen’s team at the Lundquist Institute in Torrance involves a gel that men can apply to their shoulders. The hormonal gel combines both a progestin and testosterone, which together block the body’s signals for producing its own testosterone and sperm, he explains. The testosterone in the gel replaces the body’s own testosterone, preventing negative effects on libido, sexual function, muscle mass, and energy….
….you don’t have to get a sperm count to zero to make a person infertile. A count of 10 million to 20 million greatly reduces the likelihood of pregnancy.
“Your normal semen contains about 40 million to 300 million sperm per milliliter, which is huge, right? And if you ask yourself, why evolutionarily does a man need that much sperm per milliliter of semen in order to impregnate women? That’s because you need that many. The process of getting that sperm and egg is extremely perilous,” Nguyen says. “So even at 10 [million] to 20 million, you’re expecting this man is going to have difficulty achieving a pregnancy….”
The above comes from a Dec. 21 article in the L.A. Times.
“Medicine” to make a healthy man sick. Kind of like the Covid vaccine. Don’t trust many doctors today.
Does it work on trans-men?
Trans-men don’t produce down, so there would be no purpose.
I think that’s discriminatory. Trans-men are men.
I have always thought that Humanae Vitae was the most important encyclical issued during my 70+ years, and this article confirms me in that evaluation. The pill gave rise to the sexual revolution, whose fruit is IMO negative in the extreme. Paul VI warned of the consequences and he couldn’t have known the half of it. Now we want to encourage further the sexual libertinism in males (as if we males haven’t been encouraged enough at every turn) by chemically messing with men’s bodies. Side effects of the pill for women are well known; I question whether the powers that be care about the unintended consequences on the male body of these drugs. I wonder if the day will come when the taking of such drugs will be as socially enforced to limit the effects of “toxic masculinity.”
Exactly, Dan. This is just one more way to destroy the human body, and perhaps add to children born with birth defects. Vasectomies are already suspected of contributing to brain cancer. Can only wonder if a man and woman decide they want to have a child, and the man stops using this contraception, how much damage the residue left in in body will do to the sperm that is finally released. Of course, for some in this society, abortion is always the answer. Anything to avoid controlling one’s passions and being responsible for one’s actions.
“The most advanced progress in male contraception is on the hormonal front?!” Not so. For generations, men and boys have known (and hopefully still know) that the entirely effective contraceptive for men and boys who do not want to become fathers is keeping one’s pants on and respecting women and girls. Chastity is possible. I know that’s contrary to what most in news media, social media, politics, Hollywood, medicine and even some in the Church are pushing, but, it’s still true.
God’s First commandment to his creatures:
“Be Fruitful and Multiply”
Satan’s commandment to God’s creatures:
“Be Sterile and Divide”
Widespread utilization of artificial contraception has led to the arrested development of men across the western world. Daresay it has both feminized *and* suspended them in adolescence and their thinking.
Virtuous men see no contradiction to sacrificing their lives for the women and girls in their lives.
Paradoxically, given the way this product seems to work, I find it difficult to believe that feminized, perpetually adolescent males would expose their precious bodies to such hormonal disorder for anyone, let alone the objects of their gratification.
That so many women are scratching their heads over why there are so few good men around would be far less tragic if they hadn’t contributed to the problem themselves.
Holy Family, pray for us!
i know feminists have wanted men
to “shoulder” more of the burden of contraception
but this is ridiculous.
it’s like trying to cure male pattern baldness
with an ointment applied to the testicles.
So, the presumption is (or the author hopes to tie together) that getting a vasectomy equates to brain cancer. the author offers no statistics, not any references, but rather an “I heard….” declaration. That said, in https://www.renalandurologynews.com/home/news/vasectomies-may-cause-brain-damage/ , does in fact show some possible causal link, but nothing definitive that would require a ban altogether. One can do the same with aspirin, which has numerous possible side effects, but in the medical view, so long as the patient is aware of said side effects, the doctor has determined that the risk of any of those is countered by the benefits. I shall not argue the point about one’s autonomy to decide the time and method of one’s ability to procreate, be it sterilization by medical procedure or medicine. A church or institution that may be rather concerned with its dwindling population may desire that every one of its members create their own replacements is rather archaic, though understandable, and the best way to enforce that is to make any attempt NOT to procreate a sin. I recall many of my peers having debates about whether to circumsize their sons out of fear of possible penile cancer (unfounded or at least extremely rare). Now aren’t you glad that forced vasectomies or birth control is not an option?