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Wednesday, 12 December 2007 |
What is immediate hormonal contraception?
There are two types of hormonal contraception:
- - The pill that contains progesterone
- - The pill that contains estrogen
- The woman takes the pill after the couple had sex without contraception or if the contraception was ineffective
- Two pills are required after the unprotected intercourse until the next 72 hours pass, but they are a lot more effective if they are taken two hours after the intercourse
- Both types of pills are taken in the same way; the first one is taken as soon as possible, while the second one is taken after 12 hours
- Their performance is to prevent ovulation and stop the eggs to enter the uterus
- By looking the available statistics, this type of contraception is 95% effective if it is taken within the 24 hours, 85% effective if it is taken within 24-48 hours and 58% if it is taken within 48-72 hours after the intercourse
The contraception won’t be successful if:
- The pills were taken 72 hours after the intercourse
- Vomiting occurs 3 hours after taking the pills
- The second pill is not taken
- If there was an unprotected intercourse at some other time since the last menstrual period
Immediate contraception is available at any practitioner, in clinics for family planning and, in some countries, at any pharmacy.
In case that it isn’t taken within the next three days, you should look for a doctor’s opinion, because it is possible to insert inner-uterus products that would prevent pregnancy within the next five days after the unprotected intercourse.
What are the advantages?
They can be taken within the 72 hours after the intercourse
What are the disadvantages?
- They don’t prevent sexually spread diseases
- The can cause headache or vomiting
- They are used only as a immediate contraception method and never as an everyday method
- They don’t prevent unwilling pregnancy for the rest period of menstruation so, therefore, another method of contraception is required for the rest period
- It is only 58% effective if taken 48-72 hours after the intercourse
- It can cause irregular bleeding
The level of effectiveness for the “day after pills” is up to 95%.
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The day after pill 
