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Press Release:
Women Can Prevent Pregnancy after Unprotected Sex: New Toll-Free Hotline to Explain How

For release: February 14, 1996
Most women do not know that it's not too late to prevent pregnancy even after having sex that was not protected by contraception. Now a toll-free hotline (1-888-NOT-2-LATE) will provide women with information about emergency contraceptives and offer a list of health care providers who can prescribe them.

The Emergency Contraception Website is operated by the Office of Population Research at Princeton University and by the Association of Reproductive Health Professionals. For 2006, this project has been made possible by a generous grant from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. This website provides accurate information about emergency contraception derived from the medical literature. 

This website has no connection whatsoever with any companies that manufacture or sell emergency contraceptives.

Emergency contraceptive pills are the most commonly used method of emergency contraception. Popularly known as the "morning after pill", emergency contraceptive pills are ordinary birth control pills containing the hormones estrogen and progestin. This treatment involves taking a specific dose of the birth control pills within 72 hours after having unprotected sex, and a second dose 12 hours after the first dose. Almost all women can use emergency contraceptive pills, even those who for medical reasons would not use birth control pills for their regular method of contraception. Less commonly used methods of emergency contraception include: a specific combination of minipills (birth control pills that contain progestin only) taken up to 48 hours after unprotected sex; or insertion of the copper-T IUD up to seven days after unprotected sex.

All current forms of emergency contraception work by interrupting the process of an egg becoming fertilized and implanting in the uterus, and all reduce a woman's risk of pregnancy by at least 75%. "When all else fails, emergency contraception gives women one last chance to prevent pregnancy," remarked Beverly Winikoff, M.D., M.P.H., Chair, Reproductive Health Technologies Project.

Although emergency contraceptive methods are legal for doctors to prescribe, and widely available, their use as an emergency measure is widely unknown and misunderstood, even by health care providers. Often, a woman who has heard about emergency contraception faces an up-hill battle to get accurate information and a prescription. In many cases she must make scores of telephone calls and travel long distances to obtain emergency contraceptive information and treatment.

Emergency contraception remains unknown because no pharmaceutical company has ever sought approval from the FDA to market currently available contraceptives as an emergency measure. Therefore, although it is legal to prescribe emergency contraceptive treatment, companies that manufacture the drugs are not permitted to advertise this use.

The Emergency Contraceptive Hotline addresses this lack of awareness by providing accurate, accessible information about emergency contraceptive methods; and by matching callers with health care providers in their area who can provide a prescription.

"The Emergency Contraceptive Hotline breaks the nationwide silence about these important contraceptive methods, and offers women information at a time in which they often feel afraid and alone," said Dr. Winikoff of RHTP. "With the Emergency Contraception Hotline, everyone can now obtain fast, free information and access to emergency contraception, saving countless hours of worry and a multitude of unplanned pregnancies."

The Emergency Contraception Hotline is available in both English and Spanish and is toll-free nationwide. 1-888-668-2528