This post is sponsored by Plan B One-Step and SheKnows.
Over the years, I have become passionate about a woman’s right to control her own body. If you think about it, we have come a long way in the past 100 years. Since then, women have made great strides in claiming their autonomy, particularly in making decisions about their own health, being listened to by their doctors, and even making choices on when and if she wants to have kids.
100 years ago women didn’t have much say in any of these things. Almost all doctors were male, and reliable birth control didn’t even exist. This meant that women had few options when it came to avoiding getting pregnant (because counting fertility calendar days isn’t exactly foolproof). This naturally led to families having more children than they could afford or take care of, and womens’ lives were in danger from the risks of childbirth.
Those days, however, are gone. Now women have easy access to birth control and are able to have open conversations with their doctors about their health.
Despite the progress, there is still a lot of stigma and misconceptions around the use of Plan B One-Step®, also known as Plan B or “the morning-after pill”.
There are so many different reasons why regular birth control methods fail, a missed pill, a broken condom, or even unprotected sex. It’s life, it happens. There is nothing to be ashamed of. So many people I know have felt embarrassed about having to use emergency contraception, but the truth is, we have come a long way with that too.
When I was in college, the only way to access emergency contraction was through a prescription from a doctor. Considering emergency contraception (including Plan B) works best when used within 72 hours after unprotected sex or birth control failure, it was a lot of pressure, not to mention stress, to get to the doctor or clinic in time, get a prescription, and get it filled all within the right amount of time.
Luckily, these days Plan B is available right in the family planning or sexual health aisle of all major retailers including CVS Health, Walgreens, Rite Aid, Walmart, and Target. There is no prescription or ID required, and there is no age restriction. If you can’t find Plan B in the aisle, you can always ask the pharmacist to help you locate it or if there are any additional boxes behind the counter.
Once again, taking Plan B is responsible, and nothing to be embarrassed about.
The science behind Plan B is that it is designed to help prevent pregnancy before it begins, but won’t affect an existing pregnancy. Plan B works by using a high, single dose of Levonorgestrel, the active ingredient found in many regular birth control pills, to delay or prevent ovulation which helps prevent pregnancy. Plan B is not an abortion pill, won’t affect an existing pregnancy, and won’t impact your future fertility.
While Plan B should not be used as regular birth control method, mistakes do happen and knowing that there are options out there to help prevent pregnancy is comforting.
Pregnancy is a wonderful thing — but only when it is right for you and your family.
Learn more about Plan B One-Step® here. I am being compensated for this partner post by SheKnows on behalf of Foundation Consumer Healthcare.
Read more about Plan B misconceptions, and learn THE TRUTH!
