What are the chances of pregnancy from withdrawal?

Question

Hello doctor,

I had a one-night stand with a woman in her early 30s. She told me afterward that it was during her ovulation window. We did not use protection. I did not ejaculate inside her, but I am worried about pre-ejaculate. We had sex a second time about 20 minutes later, and again I did not ejaculate, but I am concerned that some sperm from the first time may have remained on my penis since I did not wash in between. She did not want to take the morning-after pill, and now I am completely freaking out. I am almost 48 years old. What are the chances I got her pregnant?

Kindly help.

Answer 1

Hello,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

I understand your worries, as nobody wants an unplanned pregnancy. The chances of pregnancy from the second intercourse are negligible, as even though there may have been precum on your penis, the effect of weather and temperature would likely have denatured the sperm and caused fragmentation within the 20 minutes after the first intercourse, when your penis was outside her vagina. However, if there was the release of precum during the first intercourse while your penis was inside her vagina, there is about a 10 to 15 percent chance of pregnancy occurring. This chance is reduced to 5 to 10 percent if she is aged between 35 and 40 years. Pregnancy depends on many factors, not just ovulation, so there is still a possibility of not getting pregnant even if the intercourse occurred during her ovulation window.

For now, if it is still within 72 hours, try to convince her to take an emergency contraceptive pill. This would reduce the chance of pregnancy to less than two percent. A commonly used option is Levonorgestrel (Plan B One-Step). If it is still within 120 hours, please let me know, as there is another pill that can be used to reduce the chances of pregnancy occurring, Ulipristal Acetate (Ella). If she declines to take any emergency contraception, you will have to wait and observe. A pregnancy test should be taken if her period is delayed more than a week beyond the expected date.

Take care.

Regards.

Answer 2

Hello,

Welcome back to icliniq.com.

I read your query and can understand your concern. Saliva does not have any significant effect on sperm cells ejaculated inside the mouth. If the penis is removed from the mouth and inserted into the vagina, the vaginal secretions neutralize whatever saliva is still left on the penis. So, that would not affect the quality of the sperm cells in the pre-ejaculate. Therefore, the risk of pregnancy remains the same as previously mentioned.

However, you need to know that the probability of pregnancy is significantly lower with pre-ejaculate than with a full ejaculate. Most times, pre-ejaculate contains very few sperm cells, and sometimes none at all. The risk of it resulting in pregnancy increases when it follows an earlier episode of sex involving a proper ejaculation. In such cases, the pre-ejaculate may pick up residual sperm cells from the urethra following the initial ejaculation. For instance, if an individual has a first episode of sex with a partner using a condom and ejaculates, and later removes the condom and has a second episode of sex with only pre-ejaculate, that pre-ejaculate would likely contain more sperm cells because of the previous full ejaculation.

So, in your case, where you had not experienced a prior full ejaculation before the possible release of pre-ejaculate, the chances of pregnancy are significantly reduced.

I hope this helps.

Thank you and take care.

Regards.