I was sipping a single tall, extra-hot, extra foamy latte a couple mornings ago while reading the paper, because that is what one does in Seattle. It’s the law.

Anyway, just as I was savoring that first sip of the luscious foam, I nearly spit it out when I read, and I quote:

“The researchers found that the (male contraceptive) gel suppressed sperm production after a couple of months. The men’s sperm count went down to less than one million per milliliter, the threshold used for contraception.”
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-search- for-a- new-form- of-birth- control-
1508173537

In case your eyes glazed over when you read that, let me run that by you again. This was an article discussing the status of development of male birth control. In essence, it would be considered a monumental triumph of medical science if researchers were able to develop a way to reduce a man’s sperm to a mere million per milliliter! Yup, a million sperm is considered so low as to be effective contraception.

So the female partner of the aforementioned proud owner of the million sperm would, in theory, be able to relax in the afterglow of lovemaking, knowing that he had only deposited 2-6 million sperm in her body when he ejaculated that evening. What could possibly go wrong with that? Actually, not much, as it turns out. This is where the world of numbers in reproductive
health gets interesting.

While it’s true that women who are trying to avoid pregnancy would probably be mortified at the thought of 2 million sperm coursing through their fallopian tubes, in reality, that would normally not lead to an unplanned pregnancy. Likewise, women who are trying to get pregnant are often surprised to learn that their partner should have at least 20 million sperm per milliliter (or at least 40 million per ejaculate) in order to be considered fertile.

If you think these numbers are hard to fathom, consider taking a class on the cosmos. That’s where it really gets interesting.