Washington (H24N). As the birth-control pill celebrates its 40^th birthday this year, the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) conference being held this week in Washington, D.C., is looking to the future of contraception.

It is possible that in the next few years women taking oral contraceptives will only menstruate four times a year or possibly not menstruate at all until they wish to have children. This is already occurring in the United Kingdom.

"It is going to be a very different world in the next 50 years," said Professor Roger Short of the Royal Women’s Hospital in Melbourne, Australia, and then added that he is glad he will not be here to see it. According to his statistics, the world’s population will hover around 9 billion to 10 billion people, and the most heavily populated country will be India, with more than 1.5 billion people.

"The adult population – there is probably not much we can do for it," lamented Short, so the emphasis should be on teaching adolescents safe sex methods not only to prevent pregnancy, but also sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). He says that the most effective way to educate youths is through youths, because adolescents are more apt to listen to their peers.

A part of the problem, according Short, is "this awful Anglo-Saxon attitude that we inherited from St. Thomas Aquinas that sex is the original sin." For this reason, Short does not advocate incorporating abstinence into sex education classes because that would deny teens "the joy of sex."

In an interview with Health24News, Short cited studies showing that youths who receive sex education are more likely to postpone their first sexual intercourse.

To reduce the number of abortions, which Short called the "ultimate act of violence against women," he again emphasized the need for sex education.

"Abortion is evil, but a necessary evil. We need it as a backup for a contraceptive failure," he said, and in the same breath he called for the worldwide legalization of abortion.

Short has his hopes set on the "new generation of contraceptives" in the years to come: They will combine effective prophylaxis against pregnancy with protection from STDs. Until they are available, he advocates the "Double Dutch" method of combining an oral contraceptive with a condom.

Short cited what he called a "vast unmet need of over 100 million women who would like to control or terminate their fertility, and we don’t have anything to offer them." He advocates a sterilization option that does not require surgery. In a survey involving 28 developing countries, of women with three children, an overwhelming majority of them did not want to become pregnant again.

Some developing countries use quinacrine for sterilization. The procedure requires the insertion of seven pills into the uterus over the course of two menstruations. After being placed inside the uterus, the pills dissolve and block the fallopian tubes – rendering the woman permanently unable to procreate.

The Food and Drug Administration will begin testing this sterilization method soon, but Short told Health24News that he believes it will only be used in the developing countries.

Other contraceptive alternatives that Short pines for are the increased availability of emergency contraception and a condom more appealing to men – looser fitting, re-usable and stronger than latex. Short was quick to note that he did not believe there would ever be a viable male contraceptive pill. (See related story.)

In closing, Short proposed to his conference audience, "Let’s hack those defense budgets to bits and put the money where it should be – contraception."

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