44% of Men Would Take Male Birth Control; But 71% of Women Don’t Fully Trust Men to Take It

Ask any woman, and they’ll probably have the same memory: Everyone and their mother warning them against pregnancy. “Don’t get pregnant” pretty much sums up 8th-grade health class. In this way, contraception has long been a women’s issue. 

She chooses the method, remembers to take it, deals with the side effects, and ultimately carries much of the responsibility for preventing an unintended pregnancy. But what happens when men finally get a pill of their own — and when women aren’t sure they’re ready to trust them with it?

A new DatingNews survey reveals a contraception conundrum: Men may be willing to take male birth control, but women aren’t necessarily willing to stop taking theirs.

Most women say they would continue using their own birth control even if their long-term partner were taking a male contraceptive.

It’s not that women don’t want men to participate in pregnancy prevention. When the stakes are as high as a pregnancy, handing over responsibility requires a level of trust that a pill alone can’t create. After all, there’s a big difference between believing your partner should take responsibility and believing he actually will.

Men’s willingness to take male birth control isn’t universal, either. Younger men, fathers, and men earning $150,000 or more are among the most receptive, while single men, older men, and men with fewer financial resources are less receptive. 

So the future of male birth control may come down to two very different questions: Are men willing to take a contraceptive pill, and are women willing to trust them to?

Only 29% of Women Mostly or Completely Trust Men to Take Birth Control Consistently

Women have long been expected to make birth control a top priority. And yet, if the roles were reversed, many women wouldn’t trust men to take an Advil, let alone a daily birth control regimen: Less than 30% of surveyed women would mostly or completely trust men to consistently take an FDA-approved birth control pill. 

21% of surveyed women say they would not trust him at all, and 37% say they would have very little or no trust. 

Younger women generally have more faith that men will take birth control consistently. But this trust is not far-reaching, nor is it very strong: Fewer than 4 in 10 Gen Z women report high levels of trust. Baby boomer women are the most skeptical, as 76% don’t fully trust that men will take contraception seriously. 

When fewer than 3 in 10 women of all ages express a high degree of trust that a male partner would take birth control consistently, we have to ask: Why so much doubt? The answer isn’t as simple as “because men just can’t be trusted” (though it may be tempting to assume as such). 

Actually, we might have precedence to blame. After all, the consequences of a missed pill aren’t experienced equally. The responsibility of pregnancy always falls most heavily onto the person with the uterus. The stakes of missing a dose are imbalanced. Even if men could take birth control, the consequences of a missed dose are the same: a woman’s life changes forever. 

But this study doesn’t only highlight how some women doubt men’s ability to take birth control consistently; it goes deeper than that. This distrust is also rooted in a fear of losing control — of relying on someone else to take your body as seriously as you do. 

There are two facts existing at the same time: Some women are open to sharing the responsibility of contraception with men, and others are not yet comfortable relinquishing control. 

When a woman gets pregnant, her life changes forever, regardless of whether the pregnancy progresses. Generally speaking, his life doesn’t have to change much at all. 

53% of Women Would Keep Using Birth Control Even If Their Male Partner Was on the Pill 

If you want something done right, do it yourself. This is the sentiment surrounding the 53% of women who told DatingNews they would continue to use birth control even if their male partner was on the pill, too. And with such high levels of distrust, can you blame them? 

Gen Z women have the most faith in their male partners’ ability to take birth control consistently, as 34% said they would stop using their own birth control. Interestingly, single women are more likely to stop using birth control (28%) as compared to married/partnered women (24%). And at 17%, divorced women are least likely to stop. 

This disparity points back to the fear of giving up control. More bad experiences with men, the least likely women are to trust them with birth control. 

After all, the precedent has already been set. Birth control has long been labeled a “women’s issue,” and this feeling of responsibility has trickled down into each generation. More than half of almost every surveyed age group said they would not stop using their own birth control. 

Millennial women are the surprising exception, with just under half (46%) saying they would not stop taking care of their own contraception, compared to 58% of Gen X women, 58% of baby boomer women, and 51% of Gen Z women. 

The older women are — and the more life and relationship experience they have — the less likely they are to stop taking their own birth control. 

61% of Men and Women Agree: Preventing Pregnancy Should Be a Shared Responsibility

We tend to think of birth control as a divisive issue because, historically, it has been. But DatingNews’ survey reveals an evolving narrative: An increasing number of both men and women agree that preventing pregnancy should be a shared responsibility. 

But just because 61% of surveyed men and women can agree about this doesn’t mean women are ready to believe it. 

It’s possible that the biggest barrier to male birth control isn’t science, but distrust. Even if an FDA-approved male birth control pill existed, women would not automatically trust men to take the pill consistently. Because even though male respondents say they agree on shared responsibility, that doesn’t mean they understand what that responsibility entails. 

When it’s not their own bodies at stake, will men really be as serious about taking male birth control as they think they will? According to the study, more men are on board with this responsibility than you may assume.

18% of male respondents said that the responsibility of birth control should fall mainly to them, and even fewer – just 9% – said that birth control should solely be a woman’s responsibility. 

Ultimately, when it comes to something as personal as contraception, it can be difficult for people to decide who should bear the primary responsibility for preventing pregnancy. 13% of respondents said that determining responsibility depends on each person’s comfort, needs, and abilities in the relationship. 

Gen Z Men Are Leading the Male Birth Control Shift: 56% Would Take It

Men aren’t as opposed to taking on the responsibility of birth control as you might assume. Gen Z men, especially, are open-minded to the idea, with 56% saying they would be somewhat or very likely to take an FDA-approved birth control pill for men. 

When you boil it down, however, men of all ages are generally split: 44% are somewhat or very likely to take an FDA-approved male birth control pill, but 45% say they would be not very or not at all likely.

The older the generation, the more hesitant they become. Although 54% of millennial men say they’d be at least somewhat likely to try a birth control pill, this number plummets to 40% for Gen X and to just 24% for baby boomer men. These statistical gaps aren’t just wide — they’re cavernous. 

These gaps are also enlightening. They point to birth control’s fraught place in our society and how decades of political and social debate have shaped the way people view birth control. Each generation views contraception differently from the next, loading it with different meanings and expectations.

Contraception used to be a conversation for the shadows; now we discuss it in health class. There was a time when the birth control pill was considered a taboo topic suitable only for the doctor’s office, but now it’s talked about everywhere from Congress to Reddit to the dinner table. 

It’s no wonder boomer men have such drastically different opinions on male birth control than Gen Z men. To them, the subject was practically taboo. For Gen Z men, it’s an inevitable part of life.  

To be fair, there could be a simple logistical explanation for why baby boomer men are less likely to take a male birth control pill: They’re no longer in a time of life where sex and/or procreation are a factor. This is especially true if their partners are post-menopausal. 

Still: When asked how supportive they’d be of an FDA-approved, reversible birth control pill for men, more than half of surveyed men — 54% — would be at least some level of supportive. 

Age, Fatherhood, and Income Shape Men’s Birth Control Choices

Deciding whether to take a daily birth control pill is far more complicated than “I just don’t want to get pregnant.” For many women, logistical factors like age, health, finances, and even social stigma can make birth control an inaccessible option. 

When faced with the same decision, men, too, would have to consider these factors. And just like with women, men with money are more prepared to face the financial realities of pregnancy, contraception, and parenthood. 

This might explain the significant difference in opinion between higher-income and lower-income men: 64% of men who earn $150K+ would take male birth control, compared with just 36% of men earning under $30K. Middle-income groups range from roughly 46% to 55%. 

Single men (19%) are more undecided about male birth control than married or partnered men (5%), perhaps understandably so: We’re generally less likely to have an opinion on something that does not directly affect us. Male birth control may become more appealing to these men when preventing pregnancy is a concrete shared responsibility rather than a hypothetical one.

After all, the realities of pregnancy and parenthood don’t always sink in until you find yourself staring at a positive pregnancy test. This study certainly puts this fact in perspective: at 55%, men with children are significantly more open to taking a male birth control pill than those without children (35%). 

More than half (51%) of married or partnered men say they would take a male birth control pill compared to just 38% of single men. The more likely pregnancy becomes, the more likely we are to take contraception into our own hands — whether we’re the ones who would carry the child or not. 

Male Birth Control Is a Green Flag for 31% of Women

Men taking responsibility for their own health is a green flag? Shocker! 

Sarcasm aside, it’s not surprising that 31% of surveyed women say that men taking control of their own birth control would make them somewhat or more attractive. When both people in a relationship take accountability for their health and their partner’s health, it shows they care — an obvious green flag, if there ever was one. 

In fact, women are 5x as likely to see birth control use as an attraction boost than as a turnoff.

That said, not every woman goes starry-eyed when a guy steps up to the birth control plate: 63% told DatingNews that the existence of male birth control makes no difference to them. It’s possible that some women don’t see men taking birth control as a bonus so much as the bare minimum. 

How to account for the 6% of women who say male birth control would make a man less attractive? Maybe it has something to do with birth control’s historically gendered place in society. Or maybe these women simply prefer to be the only ones in control of contraception in their relationship. 

Either way, it’s clear that control plays a major role in the way some women perceive a male contraceptive pill.  

Sharing Contraceptive Responsibility Doesn’t Mean Giving Up Control

Male birth control wouldn’t flip the contraceptive burden from women to men overnight. In fact, some women don’t see birth control as a burden at all, but as a natural and deeply personal part of their reproductive health. Still, with men showing meaningful interest in taking male birth control, it’s increasingly clear that contraception is no longer a strictly “female” issue. 

According to our study, both men and women overwhelmingly agree that preventing pregnancy should be a shared responsibility. 

The biggest hurdle to making male contraceptive pills widely available may not be the science or the cost, but the fear that sharing contraceptive responsibility could come at the expense of women’s reproductive autonomy. Women are, DatingNews finds, much more hesitant to make their own pregnancy prevention dependent on a male partner. 

The most important takeaway from this study may not be that men are open to male birth control, but that its success could depend on ensuring women don’t feel they’ve lost control over their own reproductive choices.

As we inch closer and closer to male birth control being a reality, these are all hurdles that Gen Z will have to overcome. They are uniquely prepared to do so, given their open-mindedness surrounding shared contraceptive responsibilities. Emphasis on the word “shared”; if the study shows us anything, it’s that men and women alike want expanded reproductive control, not for it to simply transfer from women to men. 

Methodology

This survey was conducted via online poll on August 20, 2026, among 1,013 U.S. adults. Respondents were surveyed about attitudes toward male birth control, contraceptive responsibility, trust, dating preferences, and who should pay for birth control. Some questions were asked only of male or female respondents, as noted. The overall sample has an approximate margin of error of ±3.1 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.