Answers to Frequently Asked Questions About...
Types of Emergency Contraception
What is the difference between emergency contraception, the "morning after pill", and the "day after pill"?
Actually, there is no difference. Emergency
contraceptive pills are often called "morning after pills"
and sometimes even "day after pills" because you can use
them after sex to prevent
pregnancy. Most of the time, when someone mentions “emergency
contraceptive pills,” “morning after pills,” or
the “day after pill,” they are talking about using the
same hormones found in regular daily
oral contraceptive pills to reduce
your chances of becoming pregnant if you had sex without using
contraception, you think your birth control failed, or you were forced
to have sex.
Even though there’s no difference between what these terms refer to, calling
emergency contraceptive
pills “morning after pills” or “day after pills”
can be misleading because you can use them right away – and
you have up to 120 hours (five days) after sex to take the pills and
still prevent pregnancy. That means you don’t have to wait until
the morning after, and you can still use emergency contraception even
if it takes you longer than the morning after to get it (need to get
it now in the U.S? Click
here).
Keep in mind that if you are using progestin-only EC (like Plan B One-Step, Next Choice or Levonorgestrel Tablets) it is more effective the sooner it is taken after sex. If you are using ulipristal acetate (ella), you can take it up to 5 days after unprotected sex with no decline in effectiveness. It may take time to get a prescription and fill it, or find a pharmacy that carries EC, so call your doctor or pharmacy as soon as possible after unprotected sex. Another option if you are want to use ella is to order it through this online prescription service for $40, including next-day shipping.
Some people get confused and think that emergency
contraceptive pills, or morning after pills, are the same as “abortion
pills”. They aren’t. Emergency contraception is used to prevent pregnancy before it begins, and works primarily or perhaps exclusively by delaying or inhibiting ovulation; it does not cause an abortion. (Find out more about how the “morning after
pill” differs from the abortion pill here.)