Contraception is an important and essential public healthcare requirement. Control over one’s fertility is a crucial part of a woman’s independence. In recent years, the dialogue around fertility control, contraception and the ‘pro-choice’ movement has significantly increased awareness about the need for a woman to be in charge of her sexual and reproductive health. However, due to irresponsible marketing and industry driven propaganda, emergency contraception has come to the forefront of the public eye.
What is contraception?
Any medical intervention which prevents a pregnancy from occurring in case of unprotected sexual intercourse is a contraceptive method. There are many contraceptive methods available today. Oral contraceptive pills and condoms are the most commonly used. However, there are others like Intrauterine Devices (IUD), Depot Hormonal Injections, newer pill combinations, etc, which you can discuss with your doctor and reach a choice most suitable for you. You need to be careful about not just choosing one without a medical opinion as it can work against you. Barring condoms, anything that needs to be ingested or inserted needs a doctor’s advice.
Some types of birth control work better than others. The kinds of birth control that work the best to prevent pregnancy are the implant and IUDs — they’re also the most convenient to use, and the most foolproof.
Intra-Uterine Device (IUD): This is what is commonly known as ‘Copper-T’. When inserted within 120 hours (five days) of unprotected intercourse, it has the highest efficiency of preventing a pregnancy. It works by preventing the implantation of the early pregnancy inside the uterus. It also has the added benefit of continued contraceptive protection till the device is kept inside. While many women may not know or think about this method after a session of unprotected sex, since it has a high success rate, it is worth finding out more about it after a meet up with your gynaecologist.