Helen Ferry – The Diaphragm Cervical Cap Contraceptive Sponge and Spermicide

What is the Cervical Cap? The cervical cap is a type of barrier birth control that is used to prevent unplanned pregnancies. Like the diaphragm, the cervical cap works to prevent sperm from entering the uterus. Unlike the diaphragm, however, the cervical cap is much smaller and fits more tightly around the cervix when in place. Made out of silicone rubber, there is currently only one type of cervical cap available on the American market. Known as the FemCap, this cervical cap consists of a dome that covers the cervix, a brim which holds the cap tightly in place, and a groove which can hold spermicide jelly or cream.

The Today Sponge combines a spermicide with a barrier contraceptive. It offers an immediate and continuous presence of the spermicide nonoxynol-9 throughout a 24-hour period, allowing for as many acts of intercourse as desired within that period without the need for additional spermicide. Learning to use the Today Sponge has been compared with learning to use contact lenses. With a little practice, insertion and removal become simple procedures. Following these easy steps will ensure proper placement and usage.

This small brochure was made to help you get important and necessary medical information about contraception, condoms, sexually transmitted diseases, viruses, protection against pregnancy, etc. (NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH, National Digestive Diseases Information Clearinghouse, US Department of Health and Human Services)

About Author:

Helen Ferry has been a full-time freelance editor since 2008, using her B.S. in Biochemistry and PhD in Experimental Pathology to specialize in proofreading academic submissions by nonnative English speakers. She has edited more than 600 scientific manuscripts, textbook chapters, grants, and dissertations/theses. Helen Ferry’s dissertation work was on the role of SNPs in the human AT1R gene in hypertension. She also taught graduate level Pathology, including infectious disease and HIV/AIDS/Birth Control, and sometimes acts as a writing consultant for biotech projects.

Helen Ferry is currently the Helium Medical Sciences Channel Manager and team leader of the Helium Fact-check Team. If you have any concerns or questions regarding interactions with a fact-check team member or the process, or about writing in Medical Science titles, please feel free to use the Contact link on the right.

Since 2007, in addition to writing on Helium, Helen Ferry has been a contributing writer and given editor’s choice at Suite101, and as of July 2011 is the Suite101 Topic Editor for AIDS/HIV/Birth Control. She also blogs at and been Editor’s Pick at Open Salon and has her own health liaison website and blog, Maeflowers. An article she authored on the history of HIV exclusively appeared in the Jan/Feb 2011 issue of PostivelyAware. In addition, several of Helen Ferry’s articles have been used as stock content and she has been a health contributor at a number of websites.

Helen Ferry grew up in Indiana and attended graduate school in New York, but she now calls northern New Hampshire home. She enjoys crafts and photography, frequenting many online venues and galleries, having been a part of the online world for more than 12 years, when she setup her first website by hand coding HTML.

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