Hesperian Health Guides
Emergency family planning (Emergency contraception)
HealthWiki > A Health Handbook for Women with Disabilities > How to use the green pages > Emergency family planning
It is OK to take emergency family planning pills, even if you would not
normally use pills for family planning. Because you take them for such a short time, they will not interact with your disability medicines.
You can use emergency pills or regular birth control pills to prevent pregnancy
within 5 days after unprotected sex. The number of pills you need depends on the
amount of estrogen or progestin each pill contains. This chart lists only a few common brands for each type of pill. Since some brand names are used for more than one type of pill, check the amount of hormone in the pills before you use them in an emergency.
How to take pills for emergency family planning
| Pills for emergency family planning |
First dose  |
Second dose (12 hours later)  |
|---|---|---|
| High-dose pills containing 50 mcg ethinyl estradiol (Ovral, Ogestrel) | Take 2 pills | Take 2 more pills |
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|
|
| Low-dose pills containing 30 or 35 mcg ethinyl estradiol (Lo-Femenal, Lo/Ovral, Microgynon, Nordette) | Take 4 pills | Take 4 more pills |
 |
|
|
| Low-dose pills containing 20 mcg ethinyl estradiol (Alesse, Lessina, Lutera) | Take 5 pills | Take 5 more pills |
 |
|
|
| Special emergency pills containing ethinyl estradiol and levonorgestrel (Tetragynon) | Take 2 pills | Take 2 more pills |
|
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|
| Progestin-only pills (mini-pills) containing 75 mcg levonorgestrel (Ovrette, Neogest) | Take 40 pills, one time only, or 20 pills in one dose and 20 more pills 12 hours later | |
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| Progestin-only pills (mini-pills) containing 30 mcg levonorgestrel (Microlut, Microval, Norgeston) | Take 50 pills, one time only, or 25 pills in one dose and 25 more pills 12 hours later | |
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| Special emergency pills containing 1500 mcg levonorgestrel (Postinor 1) | Take one pill, one time only | |
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| Special emergency pills containing 750 mcg levonorgestrel (Postinor, Postinor-2, Plan B, Pill 72, Post-Day) | Take 2 pills, one time only | |
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With a pack of 28 pills, use any of the first 21 pills for emergency contraception. Do not use the last 7 pills in a 28-day pack, because these pills do not contain any hormones.
Progestin-only pills and special emergency pills have fewer side effects (headaches and nausea) than combined pills used for emergency family planning.