Summary

In this Study Session, you have learned that:

• Emergency contraception, or emergency birth control, is used to help keep a woman from getting pregnant after she has had sex without using birth control or if the birth control method failed. If she is already pregnant, emergency contraception will not work.
• Emergency contraception should not be used as a regular birth control. Other birth control methods are much better at keeping women from becoming pregnant
• There are two types of emergency contraception namely emergency contraceptive pills (ECPs) and Intrauterine device (IUD)
• With Emergency contraceptive pills (ECPs), higher doses of the same hormones found in regular birth control pills stop pregnancy by keeping the egg from leaving the ovary or keeping the sperm from joining the egg.
• ECPs should always be taken as soon as unprotected sex is committed, but they can work up to 5 days later in some cases.
• The Copper-T IUD is also a highly effective method of emergency contraception if inserted within five days after having unprotected sex, and can be used as ongoing contraception for at least ten years.