Go to Content Go to Navigation Go to Navigation Go to Site Search Homepage

Can you still have sex if you’re pregnant?

Yes, a woman can still have sex when she’s pregnant. In fact, having sex can help reduce stress and the tensions that can build up during pregnancy.

Most women who want to are able to enjoy sex throughout pregnancy. A pregnant woman should avoid vaginal intercourse if either partner has a herpes sore or if she

  • has a high risk of miscarriage
  • has a high risk of premature labor
  • has broken her water
  • has pain
  • believes labor has begun
  • is unable to find a comfortable position

If a couple wants to avoid vaginal intercourse, they might want to explore body rubbing, mutual masturbation, and oral sex.

Keep in mind that a pregnant woman is still at risk for sexually transmitted infections, and many of these infections can be harmful to the woman and fetus. Latex or internal condoms reduce the risk of transmitting infections.

Tags: pregnancy, sex

Explore more on

Planned Parenthood cares about your data privacy. We and our third-party vendors use cookies and other tools to collect, store, monitor, and analyze information about your interaction with our site to improve performance, analyze your use of our sites and assist in our marketing efforts. You may opt out of the use of these cookies and other tools at any time by visiting Cookie Settings. By clicking “Allow All Cookies” you consent to our collection and use of such data, and our Terms of Use. For more information, see our Privacy Notice.

Cookie Settings

Planned Parenthood cares about your data privacy. We and our third-party vendors, use cookies, pixels, and other tracking technologies to collect, store, monitor, and process certain information about you when you access and use our services, read our emails, or otherwise engage with us. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences, or your device. We use that information to make the site work, analyze performance and traffic on our website, to provide a more personalized web experience, and assist in our marketing efforts. We also share information with our social media, advertising, and analytics partners. You can change your default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of required cookies when utilizing our site; this includes necessary cookies that help our site to function (such as remembering your cookie preference settings). For more information, please see our Privacy Notice.

Marketing

On

We use online advertising to promote our mission and help constituents find our services. Marketing pixels help us measure the success of our campaigns.

Performance

On

We use qualitative data, including session replay, to learn about your user experience and improve our products and services.

Analytics

On

We use web analytics to help us understand user engagement with our website, trends, and overall reach of our products.