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

Since the election, there has been a surge in the purchase of emergency contraception as well as appointments for long-acting reversible contraception and vasectomies. —Benedict Cosgrove, Newsweek, 19 Dec. 2024

Americans have been stockpiling birth control pills and emergency contraception in the weeks since Trump secured a victory in the 2024 presidential election. —Alejandra O’Connell-Domenech, The Hill, 3 Dec. 2024

The plan approved Wednesday would require private insurers in Michigan and the state's Medicaid plan to cover over-the-counter contraception and emergency contraception approved for use by the federal Food and Drug Administration. —Arpan Lobo, Detroit Free Press, 11 Dec. 2024

Family planning – including birth control, emergency contraception, sterilization and counseling for these services – is an important part of health care, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. —Deidre McPhillips, CNN, 11 Dec. 2024

Bohon is also seeing patients stocking up on emergency contraception pills. —Mimi Montgomery, Axios, 10 Dec. 2024

The day after the election, website traffic spiked by 70% at the emergency contraception company Cadence OTC, with especially high traffic from states with more restrictive reproductive rights laws, a company spokesperson said. —Angie Leventis Lourgos, Chicago Tribune, 16 Nov. 2024

Check its availability at Walgreens' official website in addition to other emergency contraception products. —Alyssa Goldberg, The Courier-Journal, 13 Nov. 2024

Julie, a healthcare company that sells emergency contraception online and in retail stores, also experienced a stark increase in sales. —Alyssa Goldberg, USA TODAY, 11 Nov. 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