Protection is vital for every individual, and when it has to do with females and unwanted pregnancies, a great way to achieve it is through contraceptive pills. Now the question is, do these pills permit you to have unprotected sex?
Can you have unprotected sex on the pill?
The simple answer is you should have sex without using other extra protections like condoms if you’re taking the contraceptive pills. By intent, in the context of contraception, the sex is not unprotected. It is because you are already using another method of contraception—the pills.
Whichever pills you decide to use, be it the mini-pill, also called progestogen-only pill, or the combined pill, you should rest assured that both techniques will deliver adequate protection against unwanted pregnancies and have about a 99.9% efficiency rate.
Nonetheless, established on the reality that women sometimes miss a pill or two throughout their cycle or probably don’t take it at precisely the same time every day, effectiveness can be around 93%.
Can you have unprotected sex during your pill break?
Certain confusions may arise as you do not know whether or not it is safe to have sex when you are not taking pills. Usually, the 7 days break follows your contraception technique. It mostly concerns you if you are on the type of combined contraception meds that require you to take a pill a day for 21 days consecutively and then have a 7-day pill-free break.
However, there is only one simple answer — yes. You also include the 7-day break where you are not taking any medicine in the technique’s protection from pregnancy due to how the pill works. The pill alters your hormone levels with artificial variants to impede ovulation and make it difficult for a sperm to get to an egg.
When shouldn’t I have unprotected sex?
While these pills are highly effective for controlling pregnancies, it does not guarantee 100% protection. If in any case, you forget to take a dose of your pill, you have to take it the second you recollect. Again if you forget and miss up to two days of your treatment, you should take the missed pills the soonest you notice. However, suppose you forget to take your pill for 3 days running. In that case, it becomes highly reasonable and essential to use different means of contraception like condoms to protect against pregnancy.
Suppose, for any reason. You vomit after taking your pill or suffer from a session of diarrhea. In that case, you have to use condoms and contraceptive pills as both problems can drastically affect how the pill is absorbed in the body, making it less effective.
Before taking any pill, check the patient information leaflets as each contraceptive pill’s specific directive and requirement differs based on the hormones, brand, and type.
It is also crucial to remember that hormonal techniques of contraception such as pills are only useful in avoiding pregnancy. They have entirely zero impact on sexually transmitted infections like Chlamydia, Gonorrhoea, or HIV.
You can have sex without condoms safely only if you and your sexual partner have both had a full sexual health screening and have a clearance. However, if you have a casual, non-monogamous or new partner, you should use barrier protection to avoid pregnancies and STIs.
