If you’ve had unprotected sex, or if you think that the form of contraception that you used hasn’t worked properly, you could be at risk of pregnancy. You can still stop an unintended pregnancy by using emergency contraception.
Emergency contraception is only available for girls and comes in the form of an emergency contraceptive pill (incorrectly known as the morning after pill) or an inter-uterine device (IUD). The emergency contraceptive pill can be taken up to 3 days after unprotected sex and the emergency contraceptive IUD 5 days after.
Emergency contraception is more effective the quicker you act, so if you’ve had unprotected sex, you should visit your GP or local sexual health centre as soon as possible.
You should only use emergency contraception in an emergency and not as a regular form of contraception. Emergency contraception helps to prevent pregnancy after unprotected sex but is not as effective as other contraceptive methods.
For more information about emergency contraception visit our www.likeitis.org or download our likeitis booklet.