The idea of emergency contraception —-or a morning-after pill—- is based on a theory. Under this theory, if a woman has unprotected sexual intercourse (without use of contraception, contraception failure or cases of rape) and fears she may become pregnant, she can take large doses of birth control pills to prevent a pregnancy.

Emergency contraception, essentially, is a high dosage of the birth control pill. It is recommended for use after sexual intercourse, over a period of 72 hours, to achieve the goal of preventing pregnancy.

There are three different ways birth control pills are currently being promoted for this use: progesterone alone, estrogen alone, or both of these artificial steroids together. Again, these are the same steroids found in the typical birth control pill.

Two of the most commonly used emergency contraceptive pills are Preven and Plan B.

A Project of American Life League