Read the passage and answer the following question:
Overpopulation causes a number of family problems. Strategies like birth control methods help to control population explosion. Natural methods of birth control do not involve medications or devices to prevent pregnancy but rather rely on behavioural practices and/or making observations about menstrual cycle. Natural methods work on the principle of avoiding chances of ovum and sperms meeting.
Given below are two statements: one is labelled as Assertion (A) and the other is labelled as Reason (R).
Assertion (A): Periodic abstinence, a natural method of contraception, has almost nil side effects.
Reason (R): In periodic abstinence, couples avoid coitus during the fertile period, when the chances of fertilisation are very high.
In the light of the above statements, choose the most appropriate answer from the options given below:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → Both (A) and (R) are true but (R) is not the correct explanation of (A).
Assertion (A): Periodic abstinence, a natural method of contraception, has almost nil side effects. — True. NCERT says the side effects of the natural methods are almost nil.
Reason (R): In periodic abstinence, couples avoid coitus during the fertile period, when the chances of fertilisation are very high. — True. This is how periodic abstinence works. The couple abstains from coitus in the days when ovulation could be expected.
A is about why the method is safe for the body. R is about how the method prevents conception.
Why R does not explain A? The side effects are almost nil because no medicines or devices are used in the natural methods. R only tells how pregnancy is avoided, by timing coitus. Avoiding coitus on some days does not explain why there are no side effects. So both statements are true, but R is not the correct explanation of A.
NCERT Extract:
Population Stabilisation and Birth Control – “Natural methods work on the principle of avoiding chances of ovum and sperms meeting. Periodic abstinence is one such method in which the couples avoid or abstain from coitus from day 10 to 17 of the menstrual cycle when ovulation could be expected. As chances of fertilisation are very high during this period, it is called the fertile period.”
Population Stabilisation and Birth Control – “… As no medicines or devices are used in these methods, side effects are almost nil.”