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SCIHEALTH
[ Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2004 ]

Health Question and Answer
Answered by UHS

Question

I have heard people say it is possible for a woman to get pregnant even though she may have had no sexual contact and had never had sex before. Is that true? Is it possible to get pregnant from semen on the toilet seat that could have touched her vagina?

Answer

Although it is possible for a woman to get pregnant without vaginal penetration by a penis, it is very unlikely and a rare occurrence. Most cases where a woman has gotten pregnant without penile penetration of her vagina involved some genital-to-genital contact without a condom.

Once a male erection occurs, there can be enough sperm in the small amount of seminal fluid emitted from the tip of the penis (pre-cum) to cause pregnancy. It would require a woman to be in her fertile phase hormonally with fertile cervical mucous discharging from her cervix, down through her vagina and out onto the area right around the vaginal opening. If sperm from pre-cum makes contact with fertile mucous, the sperm can find their way into the uterus by swimming up the "stream" of fertile mucous which leads to the uterine entrance.

Semen on a toilet seat is less plausible to result in pregnancy as it would require a woman to have a significant amount of semen make contact with her vaginal opening at the same time that she has fertile mucous, with it mixing with the sperm near her vaginal opening. Plus, sperm on a toilet seat don't live very long. It isn't absolutely impossible, but it is very unlikely.



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This column is not intended to replace advice from your personal clinician. If conditions persist, see a clinician.

 



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