is it true that a week before and after a women's period you can easily get pregnant?

Perla,
There are different times during a woman's cycle when she is either:
- most fertile (middle of cycle, which can encompass a span of 10-14 days!)
- somewhat fertile (days immediately before and after menstruation)
- most likely not fertile (during menstruation)

The problem is: ovulation can not be "guaranteed" on a specific date, and can only be "predicted" ahead of time. The days leading up to, and including ovulation (release of an egg) is when the woman is most fertile, and the egg only lives for 24-48 hours.

So, this is a tricky question, because "technically" a woman is only fertile for about 2 days every cycle, but then you add in all of the variables:
- sperm can live inside a woman's body for 3-5 days
- timing of ovulation can be predicted, but not pinpointed with guarantee each cycle
- a woman can be like clockwork and ovulate every "day 14", but then any environmental change (sickness, medication, stress) can alter this day just enough to where it creates an unpredictable situation
- there are exceptions that a woman can become pregnant at any time in her cycle (due to fluctuations in the environment and her body's reaction to this fluctuation), that it is an unpredictable when a women is fertile using home predictor tests or days on the calendar

Does this make sense?

Another way to look at it:
- "Day 1" is the first day of menstrual bleeding
- "Days 7-21" are the mid-cycle when a woman could technically be ovulating at any time, or if she has unprotected sex during this time, the sperm could be waiting for the egg to be released for up to 5 days before ovulation

This is not to say that "days 1-6" and "days 21-28" (assuming a 28-day cycle; women's cycles can vary from an average of 21-35 days) are "safe" or "non-fertile" days...they are days that the woman has a lower chance of being fertile, but a woman never definitively knows when she ovulates "early" or "late" until after the fact.

Does that answer your question?