What to do if women forget the pill?

Forgot pill - What now?

05/25/2012

The anti-baby pill is one of the safest and most popular contraceptives. Their effectiveness, however, is based on regular intake. The Federal Center for Health Education (BZgA) in Cologne explains what happens when the pill is forgotten and how women can protect themselves from pregnancy.

Pill should be taken within twelve hours
If a woman forgets to take the pill, that is no reason to panic. As the BZgA explains, contraception depends largely on when it was stopped. Women who take a so-called combination pill containing both the hormone estrogen and progestin, and forget it once, could take it after twelve hours, according to the BZgA. However, if a mini pill is forgotten, affected women should seek advice from their doctor.

In the event that the intake of a combination pill was forgotten more than twelve hours ago, the further course of action should be based on the respective intake week. For example, if you forget to take it in the first week, it is advisable to continue taking it as soon as possible, but then use a condom during sexual intercourse for the next seven days. However, the BZgA points out on its internet portal familienplanung.de that women who had had sexual intercourse the week before forgetting might have become pregnant.

When forgetting the pill in the second week it would be sufficient to take the pill as soon as possible afterwards. However, if a woman forgets to take it several times, she is no longer sufficiently protected from conception, according to the BZgA.

Germans play it safe with pill and condom
As the BZgA announced last year in the context of the first German contraceptive congress in Wiesbaden, most Germans would play it safe in contraception. Thus, about 53 percent of sexually active adults use the pill and about 37 percent condoms for contraception.

76 percent of Germans between the ages of 18 and 49 would be sexually abused, said Elisabeth Pott, director of the BZgA, referring to the results of a recent study. Only 16 percent of respondents abstained from contraceptive measures. Birth control pills and condoms are still the most popular contraceptive, with frequent use of the two contraceptives, according to Elisabeth Pott. (Ag)

Also read about contraception:
Often, adolescents do not prevent
Prevention with pill and condom preferred
50 years birth control pill: a reason to celebrate?

Image: Sara Hegewald