• Plan B or some birth control pills used specifically can reduce the risk of pregnancy by 75 - 89%: 7 out of every 8 women who would have become pregnant will not by using EC
• Women who have a Copper-T IUD inserted for emergency contraception can reduce the risk of pregnancy by over 99%: only 1 in 1,000 women who use the IUD as EC will become pregnant

Additional Sources for Effectiveness Ratings and Use:

• 75% - 99% effective depending on when taken and which method used: Contraceptive Technology, 18th Revised Edition; Hatcher, Trussell, Stewart, Nelson, Cates, Guest, Kowal: Ardent Media, 2004.
• Can reduce the risk of pregnancy by 75%: Feminist Women's Health Center
• Can reduce the risk of pregnancy by 75%: Planned Parenthood

The What, the Why, the Where, the When, and the How-to: Emergency contraception (EC) is a method of birth control, in that it is a means to prevent pregnancy before it occurs. Plenty of people -- no thanks to a lot of purposefully misleading propaganda -- confuse emergency contraception with medical abortion (sometimes called RU486 or M&M, an abbreviation for mifepristone and misoprostol, two medications used for medical abortion), but emergency contraception cannot be used to terminate an existing pregnancy: it can only help prevent one. If a pregnancy has already occurred, EC will not be effective: only a method of abortion can be used to purposefully terminate a pregnancy. Where some of the confusion comes in is that unlike other methods of contraception, EC can be used after intercourse, rather than before.

The most prevalent and simple method of emergency contraception is an oral medication, called Plan B or the Morning-After Pill. It is a progestin-only hormone -- levonorgestrel -- the same one used in the Mirena IUD and in some types of contraceptive implants and birth control pills. It is safe to use for women who cannot use or are sensitive to estrogen. Women who are allergic or sensitive to levonorgestrel should not use Plan B.

If you've heard about people refusing to fill EC prescriptions or objecting to EC but NOT objecting to other methods of hormonal birth control, you can perhaps now see the giant flaw in that idea. The only thing that makes EC different from other combination hormonal contraceptives is that it is taken after a risk, rather than before... though even that is only partially true, since ongoing hormonal birth control is taken both before AND after, as those methods administer hormones to the body daily.

One critical difference between EC and other contraceptives is that it is NOT meant to be used as an ongoing or sole contraceptive. Not only would that get mighty expensive for most people -- EC pills can cost $50 or more and an IUD inserted as EC can cost as much as $400 -- it's also not as effective as other methods of contraception. It contains a substantially higher dose of hormones than other hormonal methods, and is not designed for, nor has been studied for, regular use. Too, because it is a big dose of hormones all at once, ongoing side effects for most women would be pretty unmanageable: Plan B often makes many women very nauseated -- plenty to the point of vomiting -- it often causes unpredictable bleeding and periods for a little while after use, and can result in some killer headaches for some women.

In many countries, emergency contraception pills can be obtained over-the-counter at pharmacies, or through sexual healthcare providers or general health clinics, without an exam. In the United States, currently only those over the age of 18 can obtain EC pills without a prescription. Those under 18 will need to get EC through a healthcare provider, such as their general doctor or gynecologist, a sexual or general health clinic, or through a hospital (including the emergency room). Emergency contraception pills usually cost between $35 and $60 per use.

Plan B is a package of two pills. You take one, then 12 hours later, take another, so it's a good idea to try and take the first one at a time where it will also work for you to take the other 12 hours later, such as by taking the first early in the morning. If you prefer -- or know you're going to have a problem taking the next in 12 hours -- you can take both pills at once, but be aware that you may feel much more nauseated if you do, and that vomiting could result in you vomiting up your pills, which is an obvious problem. If you throw up inside an hour of taking your pills, you may need to get a new pack and start over. It's always smart to take a pregnancy test two weeks or so after using EC, especially if you have not yet had your period at that time.

Some birth control pills can also be used as emergency contraception, such as Alesse, Lybrel, Seasonale and Nordette, when taken in a very specific way. To find out all of the birth control pills worldwide which can be used as emergency contraceptives, and how many of those pills to take, here is a very detailed list at Princeton's Emergency Contraception site, which is also the best site we know of for complete and current information on emergency contraception.

As well, the Copper-T IUD can also be inserted by a doctor for emergency contraception, as well as for continued use afterwards. Insertion of a Copper-T is more effective as EC than Plan B or using birth control pills -- only 1 in 1,000 women will become pregnant if an IUD is used as an emergency contraceptive -- and it may also be inserted as many as eight days after a risk, three days longer than Plan B may be effective. To use an IUD as EC, you'll need to schedule a visit with a sexual healthcare provider.

Check out the following links for more information about emergency contraception and for some questions and answers about EC:

• Emergency Contraception
• 10 Common Myths, Misunderstandings and Big Ol' Lies About Emergency Contraception
• The Morning After the Morning After (U.S. specific information)
• I took EC one day, and then the condom broke the next. Am I at risk?
• We wouldn't get pregnant...not us.
• Can I just use EC instead of other birth control?
• Scarleteen Message Board users talk about their experiences using the pill for birth control

Or, click on the tag for emergency contraception for a larger list.

When Good Birth Control Does Bad Things: EC is less likely to work the longer someone waits before taking it: it is MOST effective used within the first 24 hours. If a person takes it from 72-120 hours, it may still work, but is substantially less likely to. If taken after 120 hours -- while pregnancy may not occur just because it wasn't going to anyway -- it doesn't have a shot at working at all. It's a great idea if you're heterosexually active to have a pack or a prescription for Plan B on hand in advance: that way, if you ever need it, you can be able to take it immediately.

Too, if a person throws up the pills (which is more likely to happen if you take them both, in the case of Plan B, at once) they aren't going to work.

Plan B can be used as a backup method with ANY other form of contraception, but with some hormonal methods -- especially when a user is just starting them -- may pose or create extra side effects.

Other methods you might like if you like emergency contraception:

• Cervical Barriers (Diaphragms, Lea's Shield and Cervical Caps)

• Condoms
• the Contraceptive Implant (Implanon)
• Intrauterine Devices (IUD, IUC or IUS)
• Progesterone-Only Oral Contraceptives (Minipills)
• the Sponge
• Withdrawal

Why would emergency contraception be a good option for me? If any of the following are true:

• You know or strongly suspect you have had a pregnancy risk, either because you had unprotected intercourse or because your birth control method did or may have failed

• You were sexually assaulted or coerced and a method of birth control was not used, or your sexual situation was such that you or your partner cannot remember if a method of birth control was used or used properly
• You have started a method of hormonal birth control, but know or suspect you have had intercourse before that method is likely to be fully effective
• You are looking for a method you can get easily internationally

For a very brief overview of all BC methods, have a look at Margaret Sanger's Disneyland: Choosing Contraceptives.

This is part of Scarleteen's Birth Control Bingo. Need to start over or anew? Click here.

Don't forget: Statistically, sexually active young adults are as, if not more, likely to acquire a sexually transmitted infection (STI) as you are to become pregnant. Although 15-24-year-olds represent only one-quarter of the sexually active population, they account for nearly half of all new STIs each year, and of the 18.9 million new cases of STIs each year, 9.1 million (48%) occur among 15-24-year-olds (AGI). Often people have some funny ideas about who is most likely to get an STI, but the fact of the matter is that younger people -- of any sexual orientation, any economic class, any kind of relationship -- have been the highest risk group for some time now.

Condoms are the only method of birth control which also provide protection against STIs. It's pretty typical for younger people to ditch condoms if they have another method of birth control, so just remember that STIs are still a risk if you're using another method. You can read all about safer sex here -- Safe, Sound & Sexy: A Safer Sex How-To -- but the rule of thumb most medical experts and prevention organizations suggest, which we also encourage at Scarleteen is six months of safer sex, six months of sexual monogamy, and then TWO full STI screenings for each partner -- once at the start of that six months, once at the end -- before ditching latex barriers.