Risk of Pregnancy

Can I get pregnant if I have unprotected sex but the man does not ejaculate (cum)?

It’s probably very unlikely that you will get pregnant, but you can’t know for certain. Three small studies found no motile sperm (sperm capable of reaching/fertilizing an egg) in the fluid in a man’s penis before he ejaculates. However, a more recent study found that 41% of subjects produced pre-ejaculatory samples that contained spermatozoa and in 37% a reasonable proportion of the sperm were motile.

So there’s no harm in using emergency contraceptive pills (also called “morning after pills” or “day after pills”) to put your mind at ease if you are not sure if your partner ejaculated or you are worried because you had sex without using contraception or your birth control failed. Remember that emergency contraception can’t protect you against sexually transmitted infections, like HIV, which has been found in pre-ejaculatory fluid. If there is even the slightest chance that you might be at risk for sexually transmitted infections, be sure to use a condom.

For a thorough and up-to-date academic review of the medical and social science literature on emergency contraception, click here.

One of the problems not mentioned about the pull-out method here, isn’t the pre-ejaculate, it’s that often times the timing is off. A man might pull out ashe coming unintentionally, which is more often than not the likely reason for pregnancy via the rhythm method.