Can I Get Pregnant On My Period : Impossible or Improbable?

Getting pregnant during your period

When it comes to sex and pregnancy, “old wives’ tales” and myths are often more widespread than the truth, especially in an age when many people consult strangers in chat rooms instead of medical professionals. Contrary to popular belief, a baby’s position in the womb won’t tell you its sex, having sex while standing up won’t prevent a pregnancy, and you can indeed get pregnant while you’re on your period.

Wait a minute. Did that last statement just blow your mind? Well, it’s true. To put it simply, many unplanned pregnancies have arisen from the common misconception that it is physically impossible for a woman to get pregnant while she is on her period. Too often, this important issue is never tackled in sexual education courses, and students are too afraid to ask such an intimate question of the middle-aged instructor who also teaches their algebra class in addition to educating them on their sexual health.

There are certainly times of the month when you are more or less fertile, but if you are physically able to have children, you can get pregnant any time you engage in sexual intercourse with someone of the opposite sex. Even though it may be improbable that you will conceive a child at this time of the month, it is certainly not impossible to get pregnant while you are on your period. No matter what, conception occurs when a man’s sperm fertilizes a woman’s egg, and this can happen any time a couple engages in sexual intercourse, especially if no preventative form of birth control is used.

Rather than being directly related to your period, your potential for getting pregnant has everything to do with ovulation. The closer your sexual activity is to your time of ovulation, the higher the likelihood is that you will get pregnant. Ovulation refers to the time of month when a woman’s egg moves from the ovaries to the fallopian tubes, placing it in a position in which it is ready to be fertilized by a man’s sperm. Once ovulation occurs, a woman’s egg can live for up to 24 hours, regardless of when she gets her period; it is only dispelled from the body if it is not fertilized during the small time frame when a sperm can do so. Because a man’s sperm cells can live for 3-5 days after being ejaculated into a woman’s body, it is possible for conception to occur after intercourse that happened while the woman was bleeding, even if it is rare for this to happen.

Because it is the half-way point in a woman’s menstrual cycle, many people believe that ovulation occurs 14 days after the end of a woman’s last period. This simply isn’t the case. In actuality, times vary depending on the individual; ovulation can occur as early as ten days or as late as twenty-three days after a woman’s last period. The timing of ovulation is related to the amount of time that elapses before the beginning of your next period, not the time that passes afteryour last one. Ovulation actually occurs 14 days before the beginning of your next period, making it impossible to predict exactly when it will occur. After all, no one can predict the future without some shadow of doubt involved.

Some women may even experience ovulation while they are experiencing vaginal bleeding. Because the only physical, detectable sign of ovulation is an increase in clear vaginal discharge that some women get, it is impossible to know exactly when you have ovulated without the help of a doctor and an ovulation chart or tracker. The unpredictability of ovulation is precisely the reason why so many women track their ovulation cycles when they are actively trying to get pregnant.

Instead of resorting to more traditional methods of birth control, many women wrongfully assume they are “safe” to have unprotected sex when they menstruate, but obviously this is not the case. This is an especially dangerous mindset for women with irregular menstrual cycles to have, being that vaginal discharge or “spotting” can often be mistaken for a period if there is no definitive time when a woman is expecting bleeding to begin. If you aren’t ready to get pregnant, some form of reliable birth control, such as a condom or “the pill,” should be used whenever you engage in sexual intercourse, regardless of whether you’re on your period.

Frankly, if you and your partner are trying to get pregnant, having sex while you are on your period isn’t the best time because it isn’t likely that you will conceive a child during that point in your cycle. With that said, for those who would find a pregnancy to be extremely inopportune, some form of preventative birth control should be used at all times, even when it is an improbable time of month for you to become pregnant.