I think condoms offer the best solution to the question of which method of birth control is both practical and effective. Condoms are cheap, and they are available in most every convenience store. Using condoms requires far less planning ahead than many of the other methods of birth control, and the use of condoms allows male partners to share in the responsibility of pregnancy prevention. Some people say that condoms do not statistically have the same high rate of success in pregnancy prevention that other methods do. Even the pill is not foolproof, and with the improvements in technology that are happening almost faster than we can keep up with, latex condoms over the past decade or so have become far more an effective method of birth control than they once were, when condoms were famous for being ineffective.
Some old myths linger on.
Perhaps the single greatest advantage condoms have to offer is not a matter of birth control, though. Unprotected sex today can be deadly. Whatever the method, whether it be the pill, DP injections, condoms, diaphragms, or anything else, practicing responsible birth control reduces the number of potentially tragic unwanted pregnancies that lead to so many of the sad stories we all know. Because they prevent unwanted pregnancies, are available to everyone, and are our best protection against STDs, condoms are the single best method of birth control we have today.