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You know the old adage: "They can put a man on the moon, but they still can't make safe, effective birth control." This is no longer entirely true. Condoms (for example) can be up to 98 percent effective when used correctly. Perhaps you already knew that ... but if you didn't, here are some places to find out more about the pros and cons of various methods of birth control and disease protection.

Online Resources

After all these years, Planned Parenthood is still the best resource on or off

the Web for the hard, cold facts. Its Birth Control index provides in-depth information on all contraceptive choices, while Your Contraceptive Choices gives a brief rundown and rates each method according to efficacy, possible health risk, and convenience of use. Birth Control Choices for Teens gives an overview for that (rather large) special-interest group. The teen issues section also is a boon to young people seeking trustworthy, straightforward information.

AVSC International is another organization working to prevent unwanted pregnancy and disease transmission. You can review contraceptive choices, learn about infections and diseases, or read about emerging issues, such as men as partners in contraception and other gender issues.

The OBGYN.net Women and Patients News Page is another excellent resource. The site will help you find a doctor or learn about contraception with extensive facts and links lists.

News and Clinical Data

The Alan Guttmacher Institute has been providing data and conducting studies about contraception and other women's health issues for years and years. The site's section on contraception provides the latest statistics and policy papers on contraceptive use worldwide.

Medscape: Women's Health is another terrific place to find clinical data on many women's health topics. Medscape's coverage of contraceptive use among women brings up a couple of clinically oriented, yet helpful articles. The first of these, Contraceptive Method and Condom Use Among Women, reviews the effects of condoms with and without other methods of contraception in preventing both pregnancy and STDs. Another article is Managing Clinical Complexities of Long-Term Contraception, which provides clinicians with necessary data for prescribing the proper form of birth control and disease protection to their patients. This article covers the use and maintenance of IUDs, Depo Provera, Norplant, and other long-term contraceptives.

Remember -- nobody's going to worry about your health for you, but there is help out there if you know where to look.