Emergency Pills
A woman can get pregnant if a man’s sperm reaches one of her eggs. Contraception tries to stop this from happening by keeping the egg and sperm apart or by stopping egg production.
The progestogen-only pill is a method of contraception. It contains the hormone progestogen but doesn’t contain estrogen. You need to take the progestogen-only pill at or around the same time every day.
The progestogen-only pill thickens the mucus in the cervix, which stops sperm from reaching an egg. It can also stop ovulation, depending on the type of progestogen-only pill you take.
How the progestogen-only pill works
There are two different types of the progestogen-only pill:
- The three-hour progestogen-only pill must be taken within three hours of the same time each day. Examples are Norgeston and Noriday.
- The 12-hour progestogen-only pill (desogestrel pill, such as Cerazette) must be taken within 12 hours of the same time each day.