How often can you take the morning-after pill?

By Kendall @ Planned Parenthood | Jan. 22, 2021, 2:03 p.m.

Category: Ask the Experts, Birth Control

What if you have taken the day after pill more than 3 times a year? Is it still effective? What are the side effects to it?

Taking the morning-after pill (also known as emergency contraception) multiple times doesn’t change its effectiveness, and won’t cause any long-term side effects. You can use the morning-after pill whenever you need to.

But it’s not a good idea to use the morning-after pill as your regular, go-to method of birth control. This is because:

The morning-after pill doesn’t prevent pregnancy as well as other types of birth control like the IUD, implant, pill, shot, ring, or condoms.
Taking the morning-after pill over and over again is usually more expensive and less convenient than being on a regular method of birth control.
Morning-after pill side effects — like bleeding between periods or nausea — are temporary and harmless, but they can be annoying.
The morning-after pill might make your periods irregular and hard to predict when you’re using it a lot.

So it’s totally safe to take the morning-after pill as many times as you need to — it’s just not the best way to prevent pregnancy long-term. Birth control that you use before or during sex is way more effective, affordable and convenient.

If you have sex (or think you might have it in the future), take our quiz to help you find the best method of birth control for you.

Tags: emergency contraception