Emergency contraception, often referred to as the morning after pill, is designed to prevent you from falling pregnant after having unprotected sex. It is recommended that you take the morning after pill as soon as you can after having sex, although it can be effective up to five days after.
It’s important to note that emergency contraception doesn’t induce an abortion. Instead, it prevents you from getting pregnant in the first place.
What does the morning after pill do?
Very simply, emergency contraception delays or prevents ovulation. This means it stops your body releasing an egg into the womb. As a result, there is no possibility of pregnancy because the sperm has nothing to fertilise.
These pills are more effective the sooner after intercourse they are taken, so although you have a five-day window, it is best to visit a pharmacy that offers emergency contraception as soon as you can.
Different emergency contraception options
There are two main options for emergency hormonal contraception: the Levonelle pill and the ellaOne pill. Levonelle must be taken within three days, while ellaOne provides a window of up to five days.
It is thought that ellaOne is more effective than Levonelle, but Levonelle’s efficacy increases the sooner after sex you are able to take it.
That said, only between one and three per cent of people who take one of these emergency contraceptive pills fall pregnant, so the odds are good that if you visit a pharmacy quickly that it will work for you too.
Your pharmacist will be able to tell you which of the two options is best for your situation. They’ll take you into a private consulting room to talk you through the options and to ask a few questions about your medical history to make sure you are able to take the morning after pill safely.
Who can take the morning after pill?
The emergency contraceptive pill is suitable for most people. You can usually take it even if you can’t normally use hormonal contraceptives.
There are certain medications and herbal remedies that can affect the morning after pill and whether it’s effective, which is one of the reasons why the pharmacist will ask you some questions about your medical history.
Are there any other emergency contraception options?
Aside from the morning after pill, another option is to have a copper-bearing intrauterine device (IUD) fitted within 120 hours (five days) of having unprotected sex. However, you will need to make an appointment with your doctor or a sexual health clinic for this option as it requires specialist training and equipment to insert an IUD into the uterus.
One of the advantages of an IUD is that it will work as an ongoing contraceptive, so this is a good option if you want to be protected from an unwanted pregnancy longer term.
The copper-bearing IUD is also known to be the most effective form of emergency contraceptive available, as it is more than 99 per cent effective at preventing pregnancies.
I’m nervous about taking emergency contraception…
We understand that taking emergency contraception can feel scary or that you might be nervous coming to a pharmacy to ask for the morning after pill. Rest assured that our team are all highly professional and that they will make you feel safe if you need to access emergency contraception.
There are many reasons why you might need to take the morning after pill, from a condom breaking to realising that you have forgotten to take your regular contraceptive pill for a few days.
You don’t need to make an appointment to see us, you can walk in and ask to speak to our pharmacist about getting emergency contraception. The emergency contraceptive pill is free on the NHS, so there will be no charge either.