How effective is pulling out?

There’s no way to know your exact chances of pregnancy in a particular situation. What we do know is that withdrawal works about 78% of the time overall. But the odds of pregnancy are always higher during the 5 days leading up to, and during, ovulation — these are called fertile days.

If no semen gets on your vulva or in your vagina, pregnancy can’t happen — whether or not you’re ovulating. But it’s sometimes hard for people to know if they pulled out completely before any semen (cum) came out. And some people may also have a tiny bit of sperm in their pre-cum. If sperm gets in your vagina during your fertile days, pregnancy is more likely to happen.

It’s also hard to know for sure exactly when you ovulate, even if you’re tracking your cycle. Many people’s cycles change from month to month. And lots of things (like stress or illness) can mess with your cycle and change the timing of ovulation.

The bottom line is, there are lots of different factors that can affect your chances of getting pregnant. If you’re really worried about preventing pregnancy, you might want to look into methods of birth control that are more effective than pulling out (like IUDs, the implant, the shot, or the pill). You can also use condoms along with pulling out — that way you’ll still be protected from pregnancy even if your partner doesn’t pull out in time (and you’ll be protected from STDs, too).