How effective is withdrawal at preventing pregnancy?

If you or your partner pulls out perfectly every single time, meaning that no semen whatsoever gets in your vagina or on your vulva, then withdrawal is 96% effective. That means that on average, 4 out of every 100 people using the withdrawal method will get pregnant over the course of a year.

In practice though, the withdrawal method is one of the hardest methods to use correctly, so with the way most people use it, it’s only 78% effective. That means that on average, 22 out of every 100 people using the withdrawal method will get pregnant in a year.