Women's Health Project: Fact Sheets

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Emergency Contraceptives

• Emergency birth control must be taken within 72 hours of unprotected sex in order to be effective because the fertilized egg attaches itself to the woman's uterus as early as three days after conception.

• Emergency birth control is different from RU-486, sometimes known as the abortion pill, in that emergency birth control prevents a fertilized egg from attaching to the uterus and cannot be taken if the woman is pregnant. RU-486, on the other hand, can be taken up to six weeks after a woman becomes pregnant. It causes the woman's uterine lining to shed after the fertilized egg has planted itself in the uterus.

• Medical science defines the beginning of pregnancy as the point at which a fertilized egg becomes successfully implanted in the uterus. EBC is not an abortifacient because it cannot cause an abortion in a woman who is already pregnant.

• Emergency birth control involves taking one series of birth control pills within 72 hours after unprotected sex and a second series twelve hours later. The number of pills in the series depends on the type and brand of birth control a woman is taking.

• For women who are not currently taking birth control pills, there are two emergency contraceptive methods a health care provider may prescribe that have recently been approved by the FDA: Preven (approved 9-1-98) and Plan B (approved 7-28-99). Both contain exactly the same drugs as regular birth control pills, only in higher doses, and work in exactly the same way. Preven is the combination estrogen and progestin pill, and Plan B is the progestin-only pill.

• Widespread awareness and use of EBC pills could prevent 1.7 million unwanted pregnancies and 800,000 abortions every year in the United States.

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Sources:

Emergency Contraception, The National Women's Health Information Center

Birth Control Methods, The National Women's Health Information Center

Emergency Birth Control

Posted Sept. 10, 2002