Pregnencey

[blackcat666]

can a woman get pregnant without ever having sex, never touched a man or getting artificial insemination?

[andy-hughes]

Yes. Conception is the idea, so nature stacks the odds highly in favour. If the woman has fresh semen in or even close to her vagina, there is a chance that she will conceive. This means that she doesn;t reqauire intercourse, insemination, or even a man in the vicinity.

[samuel23]

Not that I'm wishing to seem overly religious, but isn't this the basic premise of christianity?
It's called immaculate conception?
As a lesson in pedantry, if the woman had never touched a man - where did the semen come from? surely we aren't going back to the dark ages and believing women can get pregnant from the loo seat?
How long is semen 'active' for once it has been in the air? I seem to remember from biology that it needs to be kept at a certain temp or kept in certain nutrients to stay alive.
Also - if the hymen is still intact doesn't this act as a barrier against pregnancy? (not being a woman and not having any sort of medical training I am asking these as questions, not offering them up as facts)

[curlyfilm]

of course just ask mary!

[curlyfilm]

sorry just a joke, but is there not something about the number of chromosons given by the male and female, if the female egg has both sets it can happen, well in theory

[theprof]

samuel23:

Sperm samples collected into a sterile container may remain alive for many hours, but their fertilising capability drops dramatically after 60 minutes mainly due to a major reduction in their ability to swim rapidly(motility).

Sperm exposed to room air on clothing, bed linen, toilet seats or the like, lose motility very rapidly. Once the semen dries out, the sperm are usually dead. Drying is, of course, dependant on ambient temperature and humidity.

The maximum time sperm have shown motility and viability outside the human body is about 72 hours, but survival depends on a both a suitably high temperature and humidity. In practice, these criteria are rarely met.

The nutrients contained within semen are necessary for the survival of spermatozoa. Without the semen , sperm die rapidly. Sperm removed from semen and placed in water, only survive for minutes due to the hypotonic nature of water ie water has a lower osmotic pressure than semen. The end result is that the spermatozoa swell up and explode.

All in all, sperm are not designed to survive outside the human body.