This post is sponsored by Plan B One-Step and SheKnows Media.
These days, most of us walk around with access to Google all day long, anywhere we go. It’s kind of mind-blowing to think about how much easier it is to access information for the average person today, vs. just 25 years ago.
Despite living in an age where we have easy access to a lot of information, it’s still easy to get false information, be misled, or hear myths without recognizing that you’ve started to believe something false. It’s just something that happens to everyone from time to time, I think! I used to have misconceptions about emergency contraception. As a teenager, I knew it existed, but I heard different stories about how to obtain it, and how it worked, and even what it did! I was initially told that emergency contraception terminated very early pregnancies and that it could only be obtained by those above a certain age, or through a doctor, which today is not true. I believed this until someone corrected me, and pointed me to the information on the medication. Ever since, I try to give people the truth when I hear those myths being spread.
Sometimes, important information that doesn’t get talked about often enough, because feelings and moral beliefs surrounding intimacy and pregnancy can be very strong or varied, makes it a controversial topic at times. Yet, in order to decide our views on a subject, I think we need to understand the subject first. With emergency contraception, sometimes people form feelings about it, without knowing the facts first, like I once did! However, feelings changed once I learned the facts, which is very logical. So let’s get to the facts!
What is Plan B One-Step® (often simply called, Plan B)?
Plan B is an emergency contraceptive pill that is available in the family planning or sexual health sections of all major retailers, including CVS Health, Walgreens, Rite Aid, Walmart and Target. It is sometimes referred to as “the morning-after pill”. In my local CVS store it is found near personal lubricant and condoms. There is no age restriction. You do not need an ID to purchase Plan B One-Step. If you can’t find Plan B on the shelf at your local pharmacy, you can ask the pharmacist to help you locate it or if there is any additional stock behind the counter. If you do need to request it from the pharmacist, you still should not be asked to show ID, and you do not need a prescription. If you need to buy Plan B, visit www.PlanBOneStep.com for a coupon and mobile rebate.
What does Plan B do?
Plan B helps prevent pregnancy BEFORE it begins. Conception does not happen in the middle of intercourse, which is why it can be used for up to 72 hours (3 days) after unprotected sex or birth control failure. The sooner it is taken, the better it works. It is a backup method to help prevent pregnancy and isn’t meant to be used as routine contraceptive protection.
Plan B uses levonorgestrel, which is the same active ingredient in many regular birth control pills, except in Plan B it is at a higher, single dose. The hormone dose primarily works by delaying or preventing the release of an egg from the ovary. It is also possible that Plan B may work by helping to prevent fertilization (meaning the uniting of sperm with egg).
How effective is Plan B?
About 7 out of every 8 women who would have gotten pregnant will not become pregnant after taking the Plan B One-Step.
How is Plan B different from an abortion pill?
Plan-B One Step will not affect an existing pregnancy. It only works to help prevent a pregnancy from happening, so it will not work if a woman is already pregnant. Plan B cannot be used to induce an abortion.
A friend of mine confided in me that she once purchased Plan B. She had a long-term, committed partner and had been on regular daily birth control for months. She always starts a new pack of birth control on Tuesdays, and it was a 4-day weekend. So, despite it being Tuesday, it ‘felt’ like Monday, and she forgot to start the new pack. She knew the facts about how Plan B works, that it simply helps prevent pregnancy before it occurs, like her regular birth control pills do. Still, she said she felt embarrassed when purchasing Plan B from the pharmacy. She felt childish and irresponsible for losing track of the date. I reassured her that it’s an easy mistake to make, and she shouldn’t feel bad about it. She said it helped when she got up to the counter to check-out the product and the cashier was friendly, because it showed her that this was probably just a routine check-out for the cashier! There was no judgment felt or expressed. She realized that she had probably gotten worked up about feeling embarrassed for no real reason, as there was no judgment from anyone in the pharmacy.
I am being compensated for this partner post by SheKnows on behalf of Foundation Consumer Healthcare.
Hi there! I am Emily Evert, the owner of Emily Reviews. I am 28 and live in a small town in Michigan with my boyfriend Ryan and our two pugs. I have a large family and I adore my nieces and nephews. I love reading memoirs, and learning about child development and psychology. I love watching The Game of Thrones, Teen Mom, Sister Wives and Veep. I like listening to Jason Isbell, John Prine, and other alt-country or Americana music. I created Emily Reviews as a creative outlet to share my life and the products that I love with others.
This post currently has 5 responses.
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Sarah L
Thanks for getting this info out. It’s important for women to know all their options.
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Thank you for the information. I did not know a lot of the information you had in the post. It is helpful.
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ellen beck
This was an interesting post. Plan B came out many years after my child bearing days or near the end. I did know how it worked though when I explained it to my daughter. I am glad you clarified it does not work on an implanted pregnancy, it is more of “I forgot/was late’ taking the pill type thing. Great info and some I hope helps explain it to those who need it.
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gloria patterson
A lot of great information here. I had no ideal that it was on the shelf in drug/walmart etc stores.
What an informative and helpful post, thank you so much for sharing this! I couldn’t agree more that this is definitely a topic that most people do not like to talk about, and find embarrassing. However, I think it is awesome that you are making it less of an embarrassing topic and providing great info about it. I know that this would help a lot of women out there.