Public health experts agree that birth control has been one of the most important advances in women’s health in recent history, as it’s given women the power to control their reproductive lives and transformed their position in the workplace. But, more than five decades after modern contraception was first brought to the market, why haven’t any comparable options been developed for men?
That’s the question at the front of Aaron Hamlin’s mind. Hamlin, who heads an organization called the Male Contraception Initiative (MCI) — which describes itself as the only organization in the U.S. “whose primary purpose is to promote the development of new male contraceptives” — is currently turning to the internet for help.
This month, MCI launched its first crowdfunding campaign to raise money for a potential birth control pill for men being developed by a Stanford University researcher. Dr. Gary Flynn believes he may have found a way to target a protein that’s critical in the production of sperm; the funds that MCI collects will go toward helping him lay the groundwork for human trials.
An increasing number of Americans are relying on the internet to raise money to cover the cost of their medical expenses. But crowdfunding is also starting to play a role in another area of medicine: scientific innovation. Last year, a new crowdfunding platform called Experiment launched with the specific goal of engaging the public in funding research projects that otherwise would have struggled to get off the ground.
The opportunity to engage with supporters of male birth control is one of the primary reasons that Hamlin decided to start his own online campaign. He’s optimistic about raising the funds for early stage research — but he also wants a way to simply get more people involved in his cause.
“Part of what we’re doing with crowdfunding is giving the public an opportunity to voice their demand. And it’s those many small donors that inspire the philanthropists to give generously,” Hamlin told ThinkProgress via email. “With enough support from the crowdfunding, we expect to get a positive response when we approach individual large donors.”
Hamlin says there’s a widespread misconception that men simply aren’t interested in using male contraception. But over the past decade or so, researchers have consistently concluded that there’s at least some interest out there, particularly as men express their dissatisfaction with condoms. Recent surveys have found that about half of men report they’d take a male form of the birth control pill.
Meanwhile, it may end up being popular among their female partners, too. Some women’s health advocates are hopeful that male birth control could be a way to address the current gender gap in reproductive services, arguing that men need to get more involved in pregnancy prevention efforts. Right now, women shoulder the majority of the responsibility in this area, and messages about avoiding unintended pregnancies are almost always targeted toward them. If we had more contraceptive options for men, would those attitudes start to shift?
The joke in the field, however, is that male birth control is always right around the corner — even though the promises behind the periodic rounds of optimistic headlines have not yet materialized. The most recent media coverage has been focused on Vasalgel, a one-time injection that prevents the vas deferens from releasing sperm, which is still years away from potentially hitting the market. “Honestly, we’ve been hearing about the ‘male pill’ for so long now, we kind of just wrote it off as something that would happen in the year 3000,” quips an article published this week in the women’s magazine Marie Claire.
Hamlin, who remains interested in Vasalgel’s potential, thinks those headlines reflect the fact that there’s real progress being made in this field. “The tools for biotech research are becoming more sophisticated, and so we’re able to make more progress and get more leads,” he said. “We have the scientific know-how to develop new male contraceptives.”
“If supporters go out there and and use opportunities like this crowdfunding, then we can look to get some options to market. The philanthropists and pharma companies are out there looking for evidence of demand,” he continued, pointing out that the female birth control pill was almost entirely funded by one large donor. “Make some noise and they’ll get the message.”