Population: Women of childbearing age who had unprotected or inadequately protected sexual intercourse within the last 5 d and who do not desire pregnancy.
Organization
ACOG 2015
Recommendations
–Offer emergency contraception to women who have had unprotected or inadequately protected sexual intercourse and who do not desire pregnancy.
–Offer emergency contraceptive pills or copper IUD to patients who request it up to 5 d after unprotected or inadequately protected sexual intercourse.
–Women should begin using barrier contraceptives to prevent pregnancy after using emergency contraception or abstain from sexual intercourse for 14 d or until her next menses.
Practice Pearls
• Combined progestin-estrogen pills and the copper IUD are not FDA approved for use as emergency contraception but have been shown to be safe and effective and can be used off-label for this indication.
• No clinician examination or pregnancy testing is necessary before provision or prescription of emergency contraception.
• The copper intrauterine device (IUD) is appropriate for use as emergency contraception for women who desire long-acting contraception.
• Information regarding effective long-term contraceptive methods should be made available whenever a woman requests emergency contraception.
• Ulipristal acetate is more effective than levonorgestrel-only regimen and maintains its efficacy for up to 5 d.
• The levonorgestrel-only regimen is more effective than combined hormonal regimen and is associated with less nausea and vomiting compared with the combined estrogen–progestin regimen.
• Insertion of copper IUD is the most effective method of emergency contraception.
Source
–Obstet Gynecol. 2015;126:e1-e1.