If you’re someone who can get pregnant, you might wonder what kinds of sex have that risk. To get pregnant someone who has a uterus and ovulates has to be with someone who has sperm. The sperm has to go inside the person with a uterus’ body, through their vagina or front hole.

Also, remember that pregnancy isn’t the same as STI risks (sexually transmitted infection). Even if pregnancy isn’t something to worry about, you could still get an STI. To prevent STIs, it’s important to use different types of protection, like condoms or dental dams. It’ also good to get tested regularly.

What needs to happen for someone to get pregnant?

There are a couple of things that need to happen for someone to get pregnant. Someone can only can if:

• They have a uterus, ovaries, vagina or front hole
• They’ve started puberty
• They ovulate, which is when an egg is released into the uterus. It happens once a month and starts happening around the time someone gets their first period.
• They’re with a partner who makes sperm
• Their partner’s sperm goes inside their vagina or front hole.

What are things me and my partner can do with no pregnancy risk?

There are lots of things people can do that don’t have a risk of getting pregnant. Some of them are things like kissing, touching each other’s bodies with clothes on, masturbating with someone, or fingering someone.

Another thing that has no pregnancy risk is oral sex, which is when you use your mouth, tongue or lips on someone else’s privates. Using sex toys can’t make someone pregnant either!

What are things that might get me pregnant?

Any sexy thing you do where people touch their private parts together can get someone pregnant. That means having vaginal or front-hole sex can get someone pregnant if they’re with someone who makes sperm.

Rubbing genitals together without anything between them can also has a pregnancy risk. Someone can get pregnant if they used a condom, but it broke or slipped off.

Can I get pregnant if my partner pulled out?

Pulling out isn’t always the best way to stop pregnancy. Someone can still get pregnant even if their partner pulled out. One way this can happen is because of pre-cum.

Pre-cum is the little bit of fluid that comes out of someone’s penis or strapless before they orgasm (ejaculate). Some people think that moving their privates away before they orgasm and their cum comes out will stop pregancy. But, there’s a small bit of sperm in pre-cum and sperm is what gets someone pregnant.

There are a couple of other reasons that pulling out isn’t always good at stopping pregnancy:

• Someone might orgasm without realizing
• Someone could start ejaculating before they pull out
• If someone orgasms close to you privates it could drip into your vagina or front hole

Can I get pregnant from oral sex or swallowing cum?

No, you can’t get pregnant from oral sex. If you swallow semen, your body will digest it. There’s also no way for sperm to get from your stomach into your reproductive organs.

Can I get pregnant from anal sex?

You can’t get pregnant from having sperm inside your anus. But since it’s close to the vagina or front hole, there is a small risk it can drip down and go inside. So it’s possible, but not likely.

The uterus and ovaries aren’t connected to the anus. So, there’s no way for sperm in the anus to get to an egg in the uterus or Fallopian tubes if it doesn’t go in through the vagina.

Can I get pregnant from sperm going through my underwear?

Sperm (the little swimmers in semen) live for a very short time outside the body. They also need to stay in a liquid (like semen) to survive. They can’t move on their own. When your partner ejaculates onto something dry, like clothes, sheets, or towels, sperm will die quickly. When the semen is dry, the sperm are also dead. That means you won’t get pregnant if your partner ejaculates on underwear. 

Can I get pregnant from fingering or a handjob?

No, you can’t get pregnant from fingering or handjobs.

However, if there is fresh, wet semen on fingers and those fingers are put into your vagina or front hole, you might get pregnant. This is unlikely because sperm will die quickly. You cannot get pregnant if the semen is dry, and washing your hands will kill all of the sperm.

Can I get pregnant from a condom slipping off inside my vagina?

Yes. You can get pregnant if:

• The condom slipped off or broke before your partner ejaculated. This is because there can be sperm in your partner’s pre-cum. The risk is very low.
• The condom slipped off or broke and your partner ejaculated inside you. This is the same as having sex without a condom. There is a high risk of pregnancy.
• Your partner ejaculated inside the condom, then the condom slipped off or broke. This means semen was spilled into your vagina or front hole.

Can I get pregnant from period sex?

Yes! Sperm can live for up to five days in your body. That means if someone ends ovulates early, the sperm might still be alive and can get them pregnant.

Even though most people ovulate more than 5 days after their period, some people have irregular periods. Especially when they’re teenagers. So, it’s hard to know for sure if someone can get pregnant or not from period sex.

If you did something that might get you pregnant, or you’re worried you did, you can talk to a pharmacist or go to a clinic like Head & Hands. There are pills, like Plan B, they can give you that can stop you from getting pregnant.

If you’re worried about this happening, you can talk to a doctor about getting birth control like the pill or an IUD. You can also get Plan B to keep in a drawer so you’re not stressed if something happens!