Emergency Contraception

Postcoital or emergency contraception is a way of using proven methods of birth control to prevent a pregnancy within 3 to 7 days of the last act of unprotected or unintended intercourse. Any women, regardless of the point in the menstruel cycle, who has had unprotected intercourse within 72 hours (or within 5 to 7 days if an IUD is to be used) and who does not desire a pregnancy is a possible candidate for emergency contraception. Hormonal methods, which include combination oral contraceptive pills, progestin-only pills, gonadotropin releasing hormone agonists, antiprogestins, the copper IUD and high dose estrogen, and danazole are discussed in this article.