emergency contraception

noun

: drugs (such as the morning-after pill) or devices (such as an IUD) that are used to prevent fertilization or delay or prevent ovulation following unprotected sexual intercourse or contraceptive failure

Emergency contraception can prevent pregnancy after you've had sex without birth control or after your birth control method has failed—say, the condom broke or slipped off, your diaphragm got knocked out of place, or you forgot to take your birth control pills.

—The Courier-Times (Roxboro, North Carolina)

There has been confusion about whether emergency contraception is an abortifacient—that is, a medication that triggers an abortion. The key difference is that the abortion pill works only when a woman is pregnant, and emergency contraception works only when she is not.

—Amie Ashcraft

Examples of emergency contraception in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Through the end of this year, Texas is legally excluding emergency contraception from its Healthy Texas Women program, which provides care to low-income women. —Yasmine Salam, NBC News, 1 Nov. 2024

Elizabeth Weise: So what these new rules would do would be to require that private health insurers pay for over-the-counter birth control methods, which would include emergency contraception. —Taylor Wilson, USA TODAY, 22 Oct. 2024

Many versions of emergency contraception—such as brand-name Plan B One-Step—often cost between $40 and $50, a sum that can represent about a full day’s worth of federal-minimum-wage work. —Emma Specter, Vogue, 21 Oct. 2024

The Biden administration’s proposal would cover all over-the-counter contraception products, including condoms, spermicide, and emergency contraception. —Emma Specter, Vogue, 21 Oct. 2024

But Ella is the most effective emergency contraception pill overall and one of the best options for people who weigh between 165–195 pounds. —Katie Camero, SELF, 9 Oct. 2024

Some forms of contraception, including certain types of intrauterine devices and emergency contraception, may prevent pregnancy after fertilization by blocking a fertilized egg from implanting in the uterus. —Caleb McCullough, Detroit Free Press, 14 Sep. 2024

For psychedelic medicine, as with both emergency contraception and mifepristone, pursuing the highest quality evidence of safety and effectiveness must be the goal. —Susannah Baruch, STAT, 11 Aug. 2024

Legislation introduced Tuesday in the Michigan Senate would require insurers in the state to cover contraception and emergency contraception. —Clara Hendrickson, Detroit Free Press, 31 July 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1972, in the meaning defined above

Medical Definition

emergency contraception

noun

: drugs (such as the morning-after pill) or devices (such as an IUD) that are used to prevent fertilization or delay or prevent ovulation following unprotected sexual intercourse or contraceptive failure

Emergency contraception sometimes is confused with medical abortion. Medical abortion is used to terminate an existing pregnancy, whereas emergency contraception is effective only before a pregnancy is established. Emergency contraception can prevent pregnancy after sexual intercourse and is ineffective after implantation.

—American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists

Plan B, a progestin-only method of emergency contraception (0.75 mg of levonorgestrel within 72 hours and repeated 12 hours later), is not only better tolerated in terms of adverse effect profile, but also slightly more effective.

—Jeffrey F. Peipert, The Journal of the American Medical Association