Description

Levonorgestrel (brand names: Levonelle / NorLevo / Postinor / Plan B) is an emergency contraception pill. It can prevent pregnancy up to 72 hours after unprotected sex or contraceptive failure.

Levonorgestrel contains two pills taken 12 hours apart that contain a higher dose of levonorgestrel, a hormone found in many birth control pills that healthcare professionals have been prescribing for more than 35 years. Levonorgestrel works in a similar way to prevent pregnancy. Levonorgestrel will not affect an existing pregnancy.

You can use Levonorgestrel after you've had unprotected sex one or more times in the last 72 hours (3 days), and you don't want to become pregnant.

Levonorgestrel can be used as a backup method to birth control if, for example:

Your regular birth control failed (your partner's condom broke or slipped)
You made a mistake with your regular method (you forgot to take your birth control pills)
You didn't use any birth control method