Read This Before You Stockpile A Ton of Plan B
With everything *frantically, dramatically waves arms around* going on right now with the government and your reproductive rights, it's not just time to freak the fuck out about access to highly necessary healthcare, it's also time to start mildly doomsday-prepping your uterus. Goad your gyno into giving you extra birth control pills, get an IUD in there, and, while you're at it, fill an entire dresser drawer with Plan B-the only emergency contraceptive currently available without a prescription.
Plan B, sometimes also called the "morning after pill," is an over-the-counter pill that prevents a pregnancy from taking place if you had a condom break, skipped a pill (or two), don't have a birth control method, or have any other reason to believe you may be at risk for an unplanned, unintended pregnancy. It's a concentrated dose of a synthetic hormone, progestin (that's also in a lot of birth control pills), which prevents ovulation. This means that any sperm swimming around in your vagina or uterus can't reach an egg to fertilize it. Let's go over that one more time, to be extremely clear: Plan B does not terminate a pregnancy, it's not an abortion; It simply prevents a pregnancy from ever forming.
There are two other forms of emergency contraception: A prescription-only medication called Ella, and the copper IUD, but they both have to prescribed by a doctor. Plan B, on the other hand, can be picked up at a pharmacy counter or even ordered online, which gives it the distinct advantage of being hoardable. While you can take Plan B up to five days after unprotected or worrisome sex, it's most effective if you take it ASAP (like, pop it literally on your post-sex pee break).
You should always keep the pill on-hand rather than waiting until an oops happens and then rushing to the store, says Katherine Farris, MD, a fellow with Physicians for Reproductive Health and affiliate medical director at Planned Parenthood South Atlantic. But now, with the increasing threats to abortion access and clinics that provide contraception, it's probably in your best interest to stock TF up on Plan B-just in case. Before you empty out your precious drawer space, here's everything you need to know about stockpiling.
1. Yeah, this stuff does expire.
As Dr. Farris says, literally every medication eventually expires (so do condoms, BTW), and Plan B isn't an exception. It has a shelf life of four years when stored correctly (more on that in a sec), and the exact month and year a Plan B pills will expire is printed on the left side of every carton, says Tara Evans, spokeswoman for Plan B One Step.
2. Rethink keeping it in your medicine cabinet.
Counterintuitive, because it's literally called a medicine cabinet, but as Dr. Farris explains, it's not ideal to keep meds in a place that gets really moist or humid like your steamy bathroom. "Most medication packaging is prepared to keep moisture out, but if you have another place you can keep it where you can easily access it, like a laundry closet where you keep your towels, that's a great idea," Dr. Farris says. Evans says the ideal storing temp is anywhere between 68-77 degrees, so average room temp, unless you live in a steam room or an ice cave.
3. There's no such thing as taking it "too much."
Some emergency contraceptives can't be taken within five days of each other-so you wouldn't want to take Plan B and then get a prescription for Ella, for instance-but Dr. Farris says you could theoretically take Plan B every day if you wanted, no problem. But, you probably don't want to, just because the $30-or-so price for one pill is wayyyy steeper than a month's supply of hormonal birth control, even without insurance.
4. You can get it online for less $$$.
Another benefit to stocking up: you can pay less if you have a few days to wait for shipping. Plan B is even available on Amazon for $31.50, but it may set you back as much as $50 if you rush to get it at a drugstore or at Target.
5. You can be literally any age to buy it.
If you've heard you have to be 18 or up, get that out of your head, because it's not true. Thanks to guidelines passed by the FDA in 2013, Plan B is available to all people of all ages over-the-counter. Hell ya.
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