Could it be a two-way street? Vasalgel and its potential as male contraception

Birth control. It works wonders for preventing pregnancy, making sexual activity more spontaneous, and allowing heterosexual couples and individuals to plan for when they want children. There are so many reversible methods available to choose from, but only one of those methods is male controlled, namely, the trusty male condom. All others require at least partial female participation, and most of them don't need male participation at all. Many of my man-loving female friends see this as a good thing. With something as important and life-changing as pregnancy, some women like knowing if they took their pill, or knowing whether their ring is in place or their patch is on right. Many of them have told me that they aren't sure whether they would trust a male partner to use birth control. Needless to say, this issue has not come up, as condoms remain the only truly male option...for now.

Enter Vasalgel. Vasalgel is a product, or "system" as business people like to say, that is actually quite revolutionary and intriguing. It is currently undergoing advanced clinical trials in India, and will hopefully make its way to be tested in the US without too much trouble in the coming years. It's a LARC (long-acting reversible contraception) which are the best kind for minimizing user error (the main cause for pregnancy while on birth control) and keeping babies away until you want them, and it is entirely for men without any need for female participation.

So, what is it? Vasalgel works as sort of a temporary vasectomy, but without any snipping. The gel is injected into the vas deferens (the tubes that transport the sperm from the testicles to the urethra) and kills sperm on contact so that ejaculate is just seminal fluid. It has very few side effects, and does not disrupt hormones or sex drive in any way. If the person is planning a pregnancy, another injection is performed that dissolves the gel and the sperm resume their normal trajectory into the urethra. Fascinating. And the whole thing can last for years (like 15 years!).

I find this method heartening, and I really hope it can make a US debut. I feel this for several reasons, one being that this method is long-lasting without requiring the user to do anything to maintain its effectiveness. I don't mean to say that men aren't capable of taking a pill or putting on a cream, but they just don't have to think about pregnancy in the same way women do, so I can see men having more trouble with birth control that requires a lot of pre-planning and assembly to get right. Don't get me wrong, I do trust men. But I would feel much more comfortable relinquishing control of my fertility to a partner who is using a LARC that he can't mess up.

The other thing I like about this method is that it would not disrupt hormones in any way. Many of the other birth control methods that have been in development for men have been hormonal, and the big drawback of messing with male hormones has been decreased sex drive. If a side effect of male birth control is lowered libido, I truly doubt that such a method would have staying power. Of course, lowered libido does happen to be a side effect of female hormonal birth control, but we are better able to tolerate that as a society. Any product that messes with a man's virility is much more difficult to engage with.

Of course, men might not want to have their testicles injected four times over the course of their lifetimes. The product might not prove to be as effective as we thought. Or, the US could have some political troubles engaging in its own tests or releasing the product onto the market. Whatever the case, there are significant hurdles to clear before this method could be a reality for American heterosexual men. Despite this, I truly feel that this is the most hopeful debut of male birth control yet, and think this idea of developing and offering LARCs for men is a step in the right direction. This step could increase male participation in contraception, diffuse the current political fight on women's bodies, and allow men to have more control in the decisions of when and whether to have children. Sounds awesome. What are your thoughts?

Read more about Vasalgel here