About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
How you prepare
By Mayo Clinic staffFor maximum effectiveness, emergency contraception should be started as soon as possible after unprotected intercourse, and within 120 hours. You can take emergency contraceptive pills anytime during your menstrual cycle.
If you're age 17 or older, Plan B One-Step and Next Choice are available over-the-counter at most pharmacies. If you're age 16 or younger or you want to use Ella, you'll need a prescription from your health care provider. Some health care providers may provide an advance prescription for emergency contraception, just in case.
Remember to talk to your health care provider about any other medications you're taking.
- Ella (prescribing information). Parsippany, N.J.: Watson Pharma Inc.; 2012. http://pi.watson.com/data_stream.asp?product_group=1699&p=pi&language=E. Accessed May 7, 2012.
- Plan B One-Step (prescribing information). Pomona, N.Y.: Duramed Pharmaceuticals Inc.; 2009. http://planbonestep.com/plan-b-prescribers/index.aspx. Accessed March 7, 2012.
- Next Choice (prescribing information). Corona, Calif.: Watson Laboratories Inc.; 2009. http://mynextchoice.com/pi.asp. Accessed March 7, 2012.
- Zieman M. Emergency contraception. http://www.uptodate.com/index. Accessed March 7, 2012.
- 5. Hatcher RA, et al. Contraceptive Technology. 20th ed. New York, N.Y.: Ardent Media; 2011:113.
- Emergency contraception. American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. http://www.acog.org/For_Patients. Accessed March 7, 2012.
- Spitz IM. Mifepristone for the medical termination of pregnancy. http://www.uptodate.com/index. Accessed March 7, 2012.
- Noe G, et al. Contraceptive efficacy of emergency contraception with levonorgestrel given before or after ovulation. Contraception. 2010;81:414.
- Noe G, et al. Contraceptive efficacy of emergency contraception with levonorgestrel given before or after ovulation. Contraception. 2011;84:486.
- Gemzell-Danielsson K. Mechanism of action of emergency contraception. Contraception. 2010;82:404.
- Prabakar I, et al. Emergency contraception. BMJ. 2012;344:e1492.
Find Mayo Clinic on