If you’ve ever accidentally forgotten to take birth control or had a condom slip off during sex, you’ve probably asked yourself questions like: How does Plan B work? How long does Plan B work? Or, perhaps most importantly: How effective is Plan B?
Whether you’ve taken Plan B before or have barely heard of it, here’s what you need to know about Plan B.
Thinking back to sex ed class, you can probably sum up pregnancy in a few words: “The sperm meets the egg.” However, getting pregnant is a lot more complicated than that.
Sperm is made in the testicles and mixes with other fluids to create semen, which is ejaculated out of the penis during sex (or other sexual activities). Meanwhile, eggs are created in the ovaries but released into the fallopian tube one time a month during ovulation. The egg only has 12 to 24 hours to be fertilized by sperm; meanwhile, sperm can only exist in the vaginal cavity for 6 days or less. If sperm and egg do meet, however, they form a zygote, which travels to the uterus to be implanted. From there, the zygote matures until – around nine months later – a little boy or girl is born.
As you may know, you can’t get pregnant during every day of your menstrual cycle. However, since eggs and sperm can exist in the human body for a short period, there are more fertile days each month than just the days you ovulate.
So what is Plan B and how does Plan B work? To begin with, Plan B is a form of emergency contraception that people take after unprotected sex. Although many people think otherwise, there are actually twelve different kinds of emergency contraceptive pills (ECPs) available around the US. The most commonly known one, though, is the Plan B pill, which is composed of levonorgestrel and can be bought without a prescription. A newer type of ECP is ella, which contains ulipristal acetate and requires a prescription.
Neither pill has many side effects (besides possible nausea, abdominal cramps or changes in the next period). There also isn’t any research showing that taking ECPs too many times will hurt your fertility. However, Plan B has been found to be less effective in women over 165 pounds, and ella is less effective in women over 195. ECPs are also not as effective as other birth control methods – like birth control pills, condoms, IUDs, etc – when used a regular contraceptive.
So how does the Plan B One-Step pill work? Depending on where you are in your cycle, Plan B may prevent or delay ovulation, or interfere with the fertilization of an egg. It’s important to know that Plan B is not the same thing as an abortion pill. This means that it doesn’t stop the development of a fetus after a fertilized egg has already reached the uterus. So, if you’re already pregnant, Plan B won’t work.
The next questions you’re probably asking are: when should I take Plan B, how long does Plan B work and does Plan B always work?
First of all, you should take Plan B if:
When it comes determining how effective Plan B is, timing is one of the best predictors of success. If you take Plan B within 24 hours of unprotected sex, it’s about 95 percent effective. The good news? If you take it 72 hours afterward, it’s still 89 percent effective.
Plan B’s effectiveness isn’t affected by alcohol, tobacco or other drugs either. However, it’s important to realize that Plan B only protects you from one sexual encounter before you took the pill…so don’t think taking the pill is an excuse to have unprotected sex later that day.
So, what should you know about Plan B? First, realize that it works by preventing fertilization and shouldn’t be equated with an abortion pill. Second, remember Plan B is most effective taken 24 hours after unprotected sex, and it could be a smart response to a variety of sexual accidents, like forgetting your birth control pill.
Your biggest takeaway, though, should be that it’s your choice to take Plan B or not. All the research suggests that it is a safe, effective method of backup birth control. However, Plan B is called an “emergency contraceptive pill” for a reason – and it shouldn’t be used regularly.
Our advice? Find the dependable, safe form of contraception that works for you, whether it’s condoms or a bill control pill. And, if an accident does happen, know that you have safe, effective options like Plan B to consider.
