Alas, the cocktail contraceptive is not (yet) the answer. Though research seems promising – layered "cocktails" of materials injected into rats have been found to temporarily block sperm production – it hasn’t even reached the wider animal testing stage. An approved injection for human males is still a pipe dream.

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Similarly, other male contraceptive options are still far from approval.

Vasalgel, a long-term reversible contraceptive gel similarly injected has been in the works since 2010. The DMAU pill, a hormonal contraceptive which can potentially halt sperm production, is still in its very early trial phase. A male contraceptive gel, rubbed onto the shoulders to "send testes to sleep", is yet to enter a human trial phase.

And the Amobi "dry orgasm pill", which allows men to experience semen-free orgasms, has been abandoned due to lack of funding.

So, what is the hold up in the male contraceptive industry? Out of all of these options, why have none made it to our pharmacies?

According to Dr Deborah Bateson, medical director of Family Planning NSW, we understand the science; the problem is one of momentum and motivation.

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“It is enormously expensive to get drugs onto the market,” she tells me. "But there has been little investment in male contraceptive options. Often the possibilities don’t get further than animal trials.”

The reason is partly historical. Since the birth of the pill in 1960, contraception has been regarded as primarily the domain of women, muting the demand for a similar pill for men.

According to research conducted in 2018 by UK sociologist Lawrie James-Hawkins, young men find it difficult to reconcile the idea that women should have control over their own bodies with the idea that men should take equal responsibility for contraception.

Somewhere along the way, a woman’s right to use birth control translated into a woman’s responsibility to use birth control.

"The feminist movement celebrated female contraceptives for giving women the power to control if and when they become pregnant," she writes. "But somewhere along the way, a woman’s right to use birth control translated into a woman’s responsibility to use birth control."

In addition to the inequality surrounding contraception, there have been changes in the pharmacological industry over the past fifty years that have set a much higher bar for pharmaceutical trials.

This was famously illustrated in 2016, when a trial of a male contraceptive pill was brought to a halt because of adverse side effects including acne, mood disorders, and raised libido. The female pill is currently available despite more severe and numerous side effects, including spotting, nausea, breast tenderness, migraine, weight gain, mood changes and decreased libido.

When the 2016 trial was cancelled, Australian endocrinologist Professor McLachlan speculated that the female pill may have met the same fate had it been it invented today.

"Now, the impediments for new drug developments are extraordinary," he told Triple J. "Most drugs fall by the wayside."

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According to Dr Bateson, both men and women (and the World Health Organisation), are calling for contraceptive options for men.

“Increasingly, men are wanting to play a role in contraception and women are wanting them to, and they can be dismayed when they hear we only have two options – condoms or vasectomy!”

She believes more investment, research and conversation is needed to keep the momentum for a male contraceptive going.

In the meantime, the only cocktails available are likely to increase, rather than decrease, the risk of conception. And a pill for men is depressingly far away.