Someone asked us:

Q. I was wondering about a rumor I had heard. Something about how urine has chemicals that, not necessarily kills sperm, but reduces the risk of getting pregnant. So going to the bathroom after sex helps lower your chance. Is this true, or ever heard of this or anything?

Going to the bathroom after sex does absolutely nothing to lower your chances of getting pregnant.

Even if urine had the ability to kill sperm, peeing wouldn’t have any effect on the sperm that have already entered the vagina, because urine comes out your urethral opening (aka pee hole – which is different from your vaginal opening). It’s a different set of plumbing, basically.

Once the semen goes into the vagina, there’s nothing you can do to get it back out again (douching, showering, jumping up and down, swearing you’ll never have unprotected sex again, etc.). Those li’l guys are in there and they’re not leaving. So at that point, if you’re not already on a form of birth control, you’d want to consider emergency contraception instead. (Click here to learn more about emergency contraception.)

The only things that actually, in real life, reduce the risk of getting pregnant are:

• Keeping sperm way, way, way far away from the vaginal opening. That would involve not having intercourse, and making sure that no semen ends up on the vulva. And preferably no pre-cum either, since there’s a slight chance it could have active sperm in it.

• Correctly and consistently using a form of effective birth control.  You can use our My Method tool to help you figure out which one might be best for you.  You might even want to consider using a condom plus another form of birth control (like the pill,  NuvaRing, or an IUD).

• Using emergency contraception (aka the morning-after pill) within five days of unprotected sex.

Hope that helps!
-Mary at PPFA