fyi.....

ok, so this info is per the planned parenthood website....and for the record...the morning after pill is available on-line via overnight shipment from several locations in this country....it is effective if taken within 5 days (120 hours) of unprotected sex......

Emergency contraception reduces the risk of pregnancy and helps prevent the need for abortion; it itself is not a form of abortion (Grimes, 1997; Guillebaud, 1998; Hughes, 1972; Van Look & Stewart, 1998).

The IUD, used as a regular method of contraception, "alters tubal and uterine transport and affects the sperm and ovum so fertilization does not occur" (Stewart, 1998). Postcoital emergency contraceptive insertion of an IUD may involve the same mechanism in some cases, but it is more likely to interfere with implantation (Van Look & Stewart, 1998).

Women Now Have More Options for Emergency Contraception

Yuzpe Regimen:

This method of emergency contraception is named for Canadian Professor A. Albert Yuzpe who published the first studies demonstrating the method's safety and efficacy in 1974. This regimen of ECPs uses two doses of oral contraceptive pills that combine estrogen and certain progestin hormones (FDA, 1997). The doses are taken 12 hours apart. Various prescription products contain the appropriate hormone combination and can be used as ECPs:

* Many common oral contraceptive pills can be used as ECPs, although their manufacturers do not label the pills for this use. "Off-label" use of approved medications is legal and commonplace in American medicine. Further, in February 1997, the FDA declared ECP use of birth control pills, following the Yuzpe regimen, to be safe and effective. At that time, six suitable pill brands were available on the U.S. market (FDA, 1997).Currently, the following brands of pills can be used as ECPs in the U.S.:

Pill Brand Manufacturer Pills per Dose
Alesse® Wyeth-Ayerst 5 pink pills
Aviane® Duramed 5 orange pills
Cryselle® Barr 4 white pills
Enpress® Barr 4 orange pills
Lessina® Barr 5 pink pills
Levlen® Berlex 4 light orange pills
Levlite® Berlex 5 pink pills
Levora® Watson 4 white pills
Lo/Ovral® Wyeth-Ayerst 4 white pills
Low-Ogestrel® Watson 4 white pills
Nordette® Wyeth-Ayerst 4 light orange pills
Ogestrel® Watson 2 white pills
Ovral® Wyeth-Ayerst 2 white pills
Portia® Barr 4 pink pills
Seasonale® Barr 4 pink pills
Tri-Levlen® Berlex 4 yellow pills
Triphasil® Wyeth-Ayerst 4 yellow pills
Trivora® Watson 4 pink pills