Emergency Contraception

Emergency contraception is a method of birth control you can use if you had sex without using birth control or if your birth control method did not work correctly. You must use emergency contraception as soon as possible after unprotected sex. Emergency contraception pills are different from the abortion pill. If you are already pregnant, emergency contraception pills do not stop or harm your pregnancy. Emergency contraception has also been called the "morning-after pill," but you do not need to wait until the morning after unprotected sex to take it. Emergency contraception is not meant to be used for regular birth control. Talk to your doctor or nurse about regular birth control to help prevent pregnancy. Nearly half of all pregnancies in the United States are unplanned.1