Emergency Contraception
Morning After Pill (Also known as Plan B, or Plan B One Step)
Before taking any medication, you should understand what it is, what it could mean to your health and how it works. Call for an appointment and one of our staff will be happy to discuss it with you, confirm if you’re pregnant and advise you on your options.
With emergency contraception in particular, it is important to determine if you are pregnant and how far along you are in your pregnancy. The Front Royal Pregnancy Center offers free and confidential pregnancy testing and ultrasounds (More on Our Services). Our caring and supportive staff can answer your questions about your options.
What is It?
How Does It Work?
Plan B acts as an emergency contraceptive principally by preventing ovulation or fertilization. In addition, it may inhibit implantation once the embryo has already been conceived. It is not effective once the process of implantation has begun. Things to consider:
- Plan B does not protect against HIV infection (AIDS) and other sexually transmitted diseases.
- The most common side effects in the Plan B clinical trial were nausea, abdominal pain, fatigue, headache, and menstrual changes.
- The manufacturer warns that Plan B is not recommended for routine use as a contraceptive. (It contains almost 16 times more synthetic steroids than one average contraceptive pill.)
- Do not use if you: are allergic to levonorgestrel, have diabetes, have a history of stroke, have abnormal vaginal bleeding or a blood-clotting disorder. See here for a full list of warnings.