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My Girlfriend's period starts at May 20/May 21. To cut the story short, we had non penetrative sex on May 11th and I ejaculated outside (Far away from her vagina). She also has been using a period cycle tracking App and the app said that her last day in the "Fertility" window was May 10th, with its peak at May 9th. Even though no sperms came near her vagina, my girlfriend is quite stressed that she might be pregnant because my finger, which might have had tiny drops of semen came close to her vagina (but never actually went inside).

I am trying to calm her down assuring her that its almost impossible to become pregnant from this scenario. Am I correct in assuming that?

Anonymous
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I am not a doctor nor a person that has any medical degree, but I read a lot about the human body, including pregnancy. The situation "almost impossible," as you describe it, can also be possible if certain conditions were achieved.

Getting pregnant is actually not something easy, even though you can find a lot of crazy discussions on women getting pregnant from trees, bullets, air, oral and anal sex, etc. It's a whole crazy world out there.

The fertility of the egg is decreasing significantly after the ovulation, so according to your time-frame, she should be okay (see graph). enter image description here

As you see, the danger would have been before the ovulation or during the ovulation. In your case, there are two days after the ovulation (if the app calculations are correct). Fertility also depends on her age. The older a person gets, the lower the fertility, so also consider that.

I would say that you should use science and ask her to make a pregnancy test. That instrument should give you a better "opinion" than mine. Also, if she is really scared about it, there are the so-called "morning after pills" which are quite efficient in terminating an eventual fertilization. She can get one next time you are in similar situation, rather than stressing out. However, NEVER use those pills as a contraceptive method. Use it ONLY for emergency purpose.

Disclaimer: I'm just a person who likes to read about the technicalities of the human body. I'm not an expert in the field nor the right person to give you medical advice. Use science for that ;)

Physther
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Short answer: The odds of her being pregnant are non-zero but negligible given that the sex was non-penetrative. The vagina is an acidic environment that's quite hostile to sperm so even if some swam inside they would likely die well before reaching the cervix. It's quite a journey for the sperm even in the best of times.

Long answer:

I'm not a doctor but I have been practising fertility awareness methods for over 4 years.

First, drop the calendar. It's not 'the day of the month' that determines whether or not you are fertile but rather how close to ovulation you are.

The day before ovulation is the best time to try to get pregnant: https://academic.oup.com/humrep/article/14/7/1835/2913179

Two days before also has a good chance to become pregnant. There are generally 6 fertile days per cycle: 5 days before and 1 day after.

A woman can ovulate on different days per cycle. In my own charts, I've seen ovulation occur anywhere from CD12 to CD18. Luckily, the female body begins to excrete cervical mucus around 6-9 days before ovulation in this pattern: dry, sticky, creamy, egg white. Egg white mucus comes directly before ovulation (4+ days) and dries up after. You can further pinpoint ovulation using an OPK kit, cervical position monitoring, basal body temperature.

So you cannot know the probability of getting pregnant on a given day without knowing the day you ovulated. Once the egg has dissolved you cannot get pregnant from that moment until the next menstrual cycle.

You can read more about fertility awareness here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fertility_awareness

NFP can be very effective if done properly and there are no side effects! https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/02/070221065200.htm

Please don't start using it unless you have taken classes with a practitioner first.

I really don't recommend that a woman should take oral contraceptives. I am a woman by the way.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=ORAL+CONTRACEPTIVES+AND+MOOD%2FSEXUAL+DISORDERS+IN+WOMEN

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24014598

Increased risk of depression, sexual dysfunction, breast cancer, nutritional deficiencies!

user1261710
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