Handbook on the Effects of Contraception

A Comprehensive Examination of Contraceptive Use
And Human Flourishing

“One of the fundamental principles of health professionals and educators should always
be the promotion of health maintenance and the prevention of risky behaviors…
Health professionals should maintain an open dialogue with the patient and family
regarding the potential risks that certain treatment and drugs (such as hormonal
contraceptives) pose to their health.”

Artificial contraception is promoted as a safe and effective means of preventing
pregnancy, yet a close examination of the massive body of literature that has investigated
the impact of contraception on physical, psychological, and relational wellbeing, does not
support such claims.

As the following series of papers show, contraceptive use impedes users from attaining
three of the five areas that Tyler Vanderweel, director of Harvard’s Human Flourishing
Program, asserts allow humans to flourish: “(i) happiness and life satisfaction; (ii) health,
both mental and physical; and (v) close social relationships.”

What follows is the result of half of a decade of work integrating past and present
empirical findings on the effects of contraception on every major dimension of wellbeing.

Table of Contents

I. Introduction

II. Summary of Findings

III. Demographics of Contraceptive Use

IV. Mechanics and Methods of Contraception

V. Contraceptive Use and Physical Health

VI. Contraceptive Use and Psychological Health

VII. Contraceptive Use and Sexual Dynamics

VIII. Effects of Contraceptive Use on Relational Stability and Social
Trends

IX. Implications of Findings and Conclusions