Contraception is the practice of stopping a pregnancy from starting when two people have sex — and, by extension, the whole set of methods people use for that. It is the idea and the habit, not one object. Methods include the pill, condoms, an IUD, an implant, and others; some work in the body, some are used at the time. People also talk about contraception in public health and in sex education: access to it, teaching about it, whose job it is. The word is neutral and adult; you hear it from doctors, teachers, and in news more than in very casual chat, where people often name the method instead (“Are you on the pill?”). It does not mean abortion. Abortion ends a pregnancy that has already begun; contraception tries to stop one from beginning.