If I think I could be pregnant, what should I do?

If you had sex within the last five days and didn’t use a method of birth control, you might want to use emergency contraception (EC) to prevent pregnancy. You can get over-the-counter EC pills, like Plan B, without a prescription or talk to a health care provider to get prescription EC pills. You can also look into getting some types of IUD, the most effective emergency contraceptive option.

If it’s been more than five days, you can get a pregnancy test or go to the doctor to see if you are, in fact, pregnant. You have to wait at least 10 days after unprotected sex for the tests to work, and they are more accurate if you wait to take them until a few days after you expect your next period. If you’re not pregnant, you can consider getting started with a birth control method.

Still not working?

If you are pregnant and don’t want to be, you can safely have an abortion. It’s also totally okay to decide that you want to continue being pregnant—your next step is to contact a health care provider near you to get started with prenatal care.