When I tell people that I'm trying to develop a contraceptive pill for men,
当我跟别人说我正在尝试研发男性避孕药时,
the response usually varies along gender lines.
对方的反应一般取决于性别。
Women say something like, "Fantastic. It's about time. When?"
女性会说,“太好了,是时候了。什么时候(能研制出来)啊?”
Men have one of two responses.
男性一般会有两种反应。
They either love the idea, or they look at me a little warily and wonder what exactly I have in store for their testicles.
他们要么很喜欢这个想法,要么就会用警惕的眼神看着我,在想我到底打算对他们的睾丸做些什么。
So why does the world need a male pill?
那么,这个世界为什么需要男性避孕药?
Well, what if I told you that of the six million pregnancies annually in the United States,
如果我告诉你美国每年六百万的怀孕人口中,
three million of them are unintended? That's half. That's a really surprising number.
有三百万都是意外怀孕的?也就是一半。这是一个很让人惊讶的数字。
And those three million unintended pregnancies account for the vast majority of the more than one million abortions annually performed in the United States.
而这三百万计划之外的怀孕很大程度导致了美国每年一百多万次的堕胎。
Happily, the rate of unintended pregnancy has fallen in the last few years by about 10 percent.
令人欣慰的是,最近一些年意外怀孕的比例已下降了10%左右。
This is because more women are using effective, long-acting, reversible forms of contraception.
这是因为更多的女性在使用有效、长效、可恢复的避孕方式。
But we still have a long way to go.
但我们还有很长的路要走。