Page 3 | AIBU to think the Adam male contraceptive implant could be beneficial if they can develop it without bad side effects?

Carla786 · 2026-03-27T06:18:53+00:00

In a hypothetical situation where Adam works well & without any bad side effects (which is by no means guaranteed right now), I think it could be really positive. I definitely don't think women having ONS or other kinds of casual sex should rely on a man saying 'I've got Adam, don't worry about condoms ', (which obviously should be worn for STD protection anyway) but I do think it could work well for women in relationships. Obviously the side effects of the pill that we've heard about increasingly recently don't affect everyone, but ideally I think it's best for to be able to regulate without pills which disrupt hormones-IUDs are a good solution but can also have side effects. Condoms too but risk of breaking and of course affects sensation. A recent trend promoted cycle tracking, and that CAN work well - only provided it's done perfectly. Obviously Adam might not be fully effective (likely not) and would probably be used by lots of couples along with something else. Previous male contraceptive trials I've heard about were for pills, I think an implant is much better given it only takes one mistake for the man to potentially get his partner pregnant, and clearly he wouldn't bear the physical consequences. [[https://www.theguardian.com/science/2025/apr/24/non-hormonal-male-contraceptive-implant-lasts-two-years-trials https://www.theguardian.com/science/2025/apr/24/non-hormonal-male-contraceptive-implant-lasts-two-years-trials]] So, YANBU- Adam could be good news if it develops effectively YABU- if it works, it won't be very helpful or even have bad effects

Original poster

Carla786 · 27/03/2026 07:26

Hoardasurass · 27/03/2026 07:22

The side effects of the male pill have been less than those caused by the female pill for decades.
Drs and researchers are happy for women to have to endure the risks and/or side effects of the pill, yet think that they are too severe for men.
Whilst you let that sink in have a think about why that is.
Putting the above aside for now what women in her right mind would trust her physical, emotional safety along with her reproductive autonomy into the hands of a man.
If a man forgets to take his pill its not him who risks pregnancy or an abortion. Then theres the abusive men who will lie to try and trap women with a baby.
Nope the whole thing is just a massive risk for women and men dont even want this contraceptive pill

On the male pill, the side effects situation is a bit more complex than that. I agree doctors' attitudes show sexism though..

https://www.self.com/story/male-contraceptive-study-shut-down-gunter#:~:text=There%20has%20been%20a%20lot,letting%20men%20get%20off%20easy?

However, as pps said , the side effects issue is given greater weight in testing given men aren't avoiding the greater physical risk of pregnancy.

No, That Male Contraceptive Study Didn't Get Shut Down Because Men Are Wimps

(But that might explain why so few get vasectomies.)

https://www.self.com/story/male-contraceptive-study-shut-down-gunter#:~:text=There%20has%20been%20a%20lot,letting%20men%20get%20off%20easy?

OP posts:

Original poster

Carla786 · 27/03/2026 07:23

Hoardasurass · 27/03/2026 07:22

The side effects of the male pill have been less than those caused by the female pill for decades.
Drs and researchers are happy for women to have to endure the risks and/or side effects of the pill, yet think that they are too severe for men.
Whilst you let that sink in have a think about why that is.
Putting the above aside for now what women in her right mind would trust her physical, emotional safety along with her reproductive autonomy into the hands of a man.
If a man forgets to take his pill its not him who risks pregnancy or an abortion. Then theres the abusive men who will lie to try and trap women with a baby.
Nope the whole thing is just a massive risk for women and men dont even want this contraceptive pill

Please read the post & article. Adam is an implant, not a pill.

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Hoardasurass · 27/03/2026 07:22

The side effects of the male pill have been less than those caused by the female pill for decades.
Drs and researchers are happy for women to have to endure the risks and/or side effects of the pill, yet think that they are too severe for men.
Whilst you let that sink in have a think about why that is.
Putting the above aside for now what women in her right mind would trust her physical, emotional safety along with her reproductive autonomy into the hands of a man.
If a man forgets to take his pill its not him who risks pregnancy or an abortion. Then theres the abusive men who will lie to try and trap women with a baby.
Nope the whole thing is just a massive risk for women and men dont even want this contraceptive pill

Original poster

Carla786 · 27/03/2026 07:22

DallasMajor · 27/03/2026 07:07

let alone having faith the man isn't lying to you since you'llbe the one with the pregnancy

But they would be the one with no say on a 18 year financial commitment.

Men have to trust women not to 'forget'. We see on here the amount of unplanned and 'unplanned' pregnancies.

Providing the side effects are broadly in line with the side effects of female contraception I can see no disadvantage.

I do think women are worried about losing control of fertility however.

Men also don't have to worry as much if their partner has an implant. If they're using something you have to keep taking, that's where there's more risk.

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Myskyscolour · 27/03/2026 07:22

DallasMajor · 27/03/2026 07:09

That is ridiculous.

Most men do not want children from everyone they want to have sex with.

The reality is both man and woman could be responsible and both use contraception. This would lessen the chance of failure considerably.

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Exactly! Men being able to control their contraception is surly a good thing, even if it doesn’t mean women can rely on them.

Original poster

Carla786 · 27/03/2026 07:20

DallasMajor · 27/03/2026 07:07

let alone having faith the man isn't lying to you since you'llbe the one with the pregnancy

But they would be the one with no say on a 18 year financial commitment.

Men have to trust women not to 'forget'. We see on here the amount of unplanned and 'unplanned' pregnancies.

Providing the side effects are broadly in line with the side effects of female contraception I can see no disadvantage.

I do think women are worried about losing control of fertility however.

I have sympathy with men who are lied to, too.

However, I'm not sure how much financial responsibility a man will necessarily be forced to provide. The CMS is a lot less effective than it could be. Otoh a lot if men do provide a lot of money.

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Original poster

Carla786 · 27/03/2026 07:17

GlovedhandsCecilia · 27/03/2026 07:02

The reality is that there is only one way to solve the issue of men lying about having it and it is not a tasteful one.

You would have to make men legally (read:financially) responsible for any pregnancy which they did not take reasonable steps to prevent (maybe exclude condoms and only focus on this implant and vasectomy). This would also mean that he could opt out of legal responsibility where he DID have take those steps but pregnancy still occurred.

That is the only thing that would overwhelm the incentive to lie.

Defonitely. Sorting out the CMS would be a step towards that. The way it operates right now is a joke.

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GlovedhandsCecilia · 27/03/2026 07:15

DallasMajor · 27/03/2026 07:09

That is ridiculous.

Most men do not want children from everyone they want to have sex with.

The reality is both man and woman could be responsible and both use contraception. This would lessen the chance of failure considerably.

Show quote history

The men Ive known that routinely dont use condoms have a typical thought pattern:

they wont get pregnant from sex/I will pull out
I cant be the only man they are sleeping with so any resulting baby won't be mine
she wouldn't keep a baby (especially by me)

People keep saying that men can lie about having the implant. They are right, they can. You'd have to remove all incentive for them to lie and provide them motivation for actually having the thing.

I'd have suggested that they could prove it via the NHS app but we know that didnt work for covid vaccination proof. People were faking them in no time.

DallasMajor · 27/03/2026 07:09

GlovedhandsCecilia · 27/03/2026 07:02

The reality is that there is only one way to solve the issue of men lying about having it and it is not a tasteful one.

You would have to make men legally (read:financially) responsible for any pregnancy which they did not take reasonable steps to prevent (maybe exclude condoms and only focus on this implant and vasectomy). This would also mean that he could opt out of legal responsibility where he DID have take those steps but pregnancy still occurred.

That is the only thing that would overwhelm the incentive to lie.

That is ridiculous.

Most men do not want children from everyone they want to have sex with.

The reality is both man and woman could be responsible and both use contraception. This would lessen the chance of failure considerably.

DallasMajor · 27/03/2026 07:07

let alone having faith the man isn't lying to you since you'llbe the one with the pregnancy

But they would be the one with no say on a 18 year financial commitment.

Men have to trust women not to 'forget'. We see on here the amount of unplanned and 'unplanned' pregnancies.

Providing the side effects are broadly in line with the side effects of female contraception I can see no disadvantage.

I do think women are worried about losing control of fertility however.

GlovedhandsCecilia · 27/03/2026 07:02

The reality is that there is only one way to solve the issue of men lying about having it and it is not a tasteful one.

You would have to make men legally (read:financially) responsible for any pregnancy which they did not take reasonable steps to prevent (maybe exclude condoms and only focus on this implant and vasectomy). This would also mean that he could opt out of legal responsibility where he DID have take those steps but pregnancy still occurred.

That is the only thing that would overwhelm the incentive to lie.

Original poster

Carla786 · 27/03/2026 06:58

RhaenysRocks · 27/03/2026 06:55

That doesn't make sense. This would give e them every reason to use that excuse to not wear a condom....'its fine babe, I've got the implant.'

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Good point! I mean, the individual man might be more motivated to use as there would be no effect on sensation. But yes, they could definitely use that as an excuse..

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RhaenysRocks · 27/03/2026 06:57

If anything it makes it easier for them..sadly there a lot of women who will feel they can't refuse.

GlovedhandsCecilia · 27/03/2026 06:56

Carla786 · 27/03/2026 06:54

That's very telling re the female pill, sadly.

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I think it is more that they have tightened up ethics since. I believe there are other medications that are the same. We still use them today but we would have never have been able to test them sufficiently to release if we invented them today.

RhaenysRocks · 27/03/2026 06:55

Carla786 · 27/03/2026 06:42

I agree partly with this but at least men wouldn't have the excuse/reason not to use : 'condoms don't feel so good' etc.

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That doesn't make sense. This would give e them every reason to use that excuse to not wear a condom....'its fine babe, I've got the implant.'

Original poster

Carla786 · 27/03/2026 06:54

GlovedhandsCecilia · 27/03/2026 06:51

The female contraceptive pill wouldnt have met the threshold for ethics if it was being tested today. That was widely reported when they came up with that "glue" thing for males. A temporary contraceptive that would block the tubes for months at a time. I thought they were going to release that.

That's very telling re the female pill, sadly.

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Original poster

Carla786 · 27/03/2026 06:53

WhatAMarvelousTune · 27/03/2026 06:49

Yes, I think this is the case. (Maybe not literally zero side effects, but certainly nothing serious).

It does make sense, given they work on an individual basis for the cost/benefit. For example, we know the pill increases a woman’s risk of blood clots, but pregnancy increases the risk of blood clots even more. But if a male contraceptive caused an increased risk of blood clots, it wouldn’t be protecting them against something that would cause an even higher risk, it would just be increasing their risk.

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Would Adam cause this though?

Adam is non-hormonal : the best equivalent would be the copper IUD, not the pill.

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GlovedhandsCecilia · 27/03/2026 06:51

The female contraceptive pill wouldnt have met the threshold for ethics if it was being tested today. That was widely reported when they came up with that "glue" thing for males. A temporary contraceptive that would block the tubes for months at a time. I thought they were going to release that.

Original poster

Carla786 · 27/03/2026 06:51

DannyDeever · 27/03/2026 06:50

I think if men had a contraceptive that wasn't a condom and didn't involve surgery mankind would die out.

I think a vast number of women who thought there were TTC, actually wouldn't be, IYSWIM.

The accidental pregnancy path to marriage would be gone and in my circle of friends that would be about half.

Are you a man?

Do you think most men, given the choice, don't want to marry or have kids?

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Original poster

Carla786 · 27/03/2026 06:50

GlovedhandsCecilia · 27/03/2026 06:42

So how will anyone miss doses?

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Yes, that wouldn't happen with an implant.

I note this comment though : ' Oatley said that while the Adam implant could be a strong contraceptive option for men, uptake may be limited. “Given a choice of a pill, patch, injectable or surgery, I believe that most men would choose pill or patch over surgery,” he '

That's an issue. Still, it's not like there is an effective pill for men right now, or patch or injectable. The fact Adam is non-hormonal might be a draw even if there were others, ad this makes side effects a bit less likely, I think?

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DannyDeever · 27/03/2026 06:50

I think if men had a contraceptive that wasn't a condom and didn't involve surgery mankind would die out.

I think a vast number of women who thought there were TTC, actually wouldn't be, IYSWIM.

The accidental pregnancy path to marriage would be gone and in my circle of friends that would be about half.

WhatAMarvelousTune · 27/03/2026 06:49

Mt563 · 27/03/2026 06:27

I still doubt any male contraceptive will ever be approved with the current testing system.

Medicine is setup to balance risks against benefits. There are no physical risks to men from pregnancy (which is what these contraceptives are trying to avoid), so therefore no benefit from a contraceptive. Therefore any side effects have to be essentially null, in my understanding.

Or this is what has been said previously as to why male contraceptives never come through.

Yes, I think this is the case. (Maybe not literally zero side effects, but certainly nothing serious).

It does make sense, given they work on an individual basis for the cost/benefit. For example, we know the pill increases a woman’s risk of blood clots, but pregnancy increases the risk of blood clots even more. But if a male contraceptive caused an increased risk of blood clots, it wouldn’t be protecting them against something that would cause an even higher risk, it would just be increasing their risk.

GlovedhandsCecilia · 27/03/2026 06:42

Carla786 · 27/03/2026 06:42

Yes.

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So how will anyone miss doses?

Original poster

Carla786 · 27/03/2026 06:42

GlovedhandsCecilia · 27/03/2026 06:32

Isn't it an implant?

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Yes.

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Original poster

Carla786 · 27/03/2026 06:42

RhaenysRocks · 27/03/2026 06:38

I mean sure, I can't see why it would be a bad thing...although there is always risk of men saying they have it in a relatively new relationship (but not casual ONS) where a woman may feel pressure to have 'unprotected' sex thinking she was safe....I mean stupid and naive but possibly understandable. A lot of men don't like condoms and no man gets pregnant (ie suffers the consequences of contraceptive failure) so its not hard to see how this could be abused. Women have fewer reasons to behave similarly..the 'baby trapping' stories are both vanishingly rare and not quite the same. Men can and do walk away. Women v v rarely would, or would have to have an abortion which is not nothing.

I agree partly with this but at least men wouldn't have the excuse/reason not to use : 'condoms don't feel so good' etc.

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