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

[Carla786]

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

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

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.

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.

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

1. they wont get pregnant from sex/I will pull out
2. I cant be the only man they are sleeping with so any resulting baby won't be mine
3. 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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

That's really not how they're thinking about it.

I don't have the numbers right now but if for example the pill increases relative risk of blood clots by 2x but pregnancy increases the risk by 4x, then there is a clear advantage for a woman who wants sex to take the pill to avoid both pregnancy and decrease the blood clot risk associated with that. Pregnancy is a risky time for women, contraceptive means women can choose how often to take that risk.

For men, if a contraceptive increased the relative blood clot risk 2x, there is no pregnancy or other risk to offset that.

Hence, different handling of risks in men vs women. It's why we don't give everyone things like statins, because there are risks that are only considered worth it if there is high enough cholesterol to start with.

Surely the bet contraception you could develop would be one that made people 100% responsible financially and care wise for their children. Money take at source through HMRC including looking at self employed earnings/dividends.

I would love a survey be done on a massive group of men to see if they would take this implant. Happy to be proven wrong but I think many men wouldn’t chose to have children especially if they had t o pay/care for them properly. Currently there isn’t really any significant impact for a man that gets a woman pregnant, that’s what needs to change.

I found this video helpful for understanding the risk issue:

And this on how medical risk benefit is weighed up in terms of testing:

NsdWtYc

No men don't have to trust women, they have the choice to put a condom on or refuse sex.
Women cant make a man wear a condom and whilst she can say no it doesn't mean that the man will accept that no.
As for the financial costs for 18 years the cms system is set up to allow men to avoid paying for their children with no real repercussions for them.
Ofcourse women are afraid of loosing control of our fertility when we are the ones whos bodies and life are being put at risk in pregnancy and child birth

I don't see how it can be anything other than a good thing? Both partners taking responsibility for their own fertility. The point about women not being able to trust men saying they have it - if that's the situation in your relationship, or it's a short term/casual thing you should also be thinking about STDs and taking your own measures. No different from now other than giving men an additional option to prevent being responsible for unwanted pregnancies.

If women are so afraid of losing control then they can continue to take contraceptives.
But this would also prevent those happy little acidents.
And I wonder how many women are worried that affairs could be found out and that current partners would know that the children are not theirs?

That's why you'd have to base the incentive around the detriment to his quality of life. At best, he will suffer financially from the birth of an unplanned child. That is the risk that you would have to compare to any side effects.

I could be wrong but I thought pp was talking more about committed relationships where you should hopefully be able to trust your partner.

Agree, especially re STDs.

Whether its a pill or an implant is irrelevant we would still be trusting a man to tell the truth about being on it and remember to get it replaced when needed.
Maybe im jaded but it's far to big a risk for women unless they changed the law to make a man lieing about using adam/any male contraceptive rape by deception in the same way stealthing is and had much harsher consequences for them.

What would be good is if drs spent their time and energy on fixing the problems with the female contraceptive 1st

Sure, but that would require a change to the whole way we do medicine currently. Not saying it can't be don't but it doesn't seem to be the suggestion anywhere.

Women cant make a man wear a condom and whilst she can say no it doesn't mean that the man will accept that no.

That would be rape. If you really believe that all men are rapists then this is a pointless conversation.

I agree the CMS needs a overhaul.

The only control women would lose is the chance to conceive when they want. The availability of a male implant would not stop women from preventing their own pregnancy.

Both partners take the implant.

How are there downsides to that?

Are you a man?

I really don't think false paternity is that widespread.

I can see what you mean but otoh if we're focusing on LTRs, if your partner isn't trustworthy the relationship isn't worth it. Otoh men can certainly appear trustworthy who aren't.

'unless they changed the law to make a man lieing about using adam/any male contraceptive rape by deception in the same way stealthing is and had much harsher consequences for them.'

• I don't think that should be rape. By that measure a woman lying about the pill is sexually assaulting too. I don't think any of those are rape. Stealthing IS because it alters the nature of the physical sex act.

I agree re CMS though.

Not really. Quality of life is an acceptable benefit for many surgeries/treatments. It may have to be argued that the financial loss/existence of a child would reduce his QoL, but I think if we are objective, that is pretty easy.

From my armchair non-lawyer perspective, I'd look for precedence in cases where person was stopped from using the genetic material of an ex partner after they split.