Who invented morning after pill

Albert Yuzpe did the first formal studies of combined estrogen-progestin ECPs with the goal of reducing the number of unintended pregnancies. ECPs were first used for rape victims, but today they are more widely used by women for any type of situation where unprotected sex occurred and there is the risk of an unintended pregnancy.

The creation of this technology was facilitated by the existence of hormonal birth control pills and synthetic hormones. The development of the technology was motivated by population control and family planning concerns, as well as the desire to ensure reproductive rights.

This was after a application for OTC status for Plan B submitted by the WCC was rejected and the application was resubmitted in with the provision that it be sold OTC to individuals sixteen years and older. Its mechanism, specifically the evidence that it works by preventing implantation of a fertilized egg , has provoked a spectrum of reactions.

Much of the opposition to Plan B stems from the belief that life begins at fertilization and that the zygote has moral status. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Emergency contraception. Updated September Wertheimer RE. Emergency postcoidal contraception. Am Fam Physician. Kaneshiro B, Aeby T. Long-term safety, efficacy, and patient acceptability of the intrauterine Copper TA contraceptive device. Int J Womens Health. Federal Registrar. Prescription drug products; Certain combined oral contraceptives for use as postcoital emergency contraception.

Updated February 25, Updated September 1, Planned Parenthood. Emergency contraception history and access. Updated August FDA: Plan B sales rejected against advice. Updated May 8, Weismiller DG. Updated April 30, Tummino v. Updated March 23, More specifically, these researchers wanted to understand the role of ovarian hormones later named estrogen in pregnancy in mammals.

In some studies, Allen and Doisy found that the estrogen they extracted could interfere with animal pregnancies. This information would later be used in the development of emergency contraception for women. It took around 40 years for those first veterinary experiments to lead to emergency contraception use in human trials.

In the mids, the first documented cases of postcoital estrogens in women were published in the US. In these studies, women were given high-dose estrogens over several days. Although it did have a number of side effects, it appeared to be relatively effective. In , Canadian doctor Albert Yuzpe conducted studies on a new type of emergency contraception which combined estrogen and progestin, as opposed to the high-dose estrogen method used up to that point. This new method had fewer side effects for women compared to a high dose of estrogen.

In addition, the estrogen and progestin formula was similar to the combination birth control pill like Camrese or Mononessa , leading doctors to recommend taking multiple birth control pills in order to prevent pregnancy after unprotected sex.

Around that same time, doctors began developing progestin-only emergency contraception. Research published in looked at the effects of five different dosage levels of progestin levonorgestrel mcg, mcg, mcg, mcg, and mcg. To find out just how far this little pill has come over the past century, read on. Although the contraceptive pill has been available for over 50 years in the UK, women had to wait until until the first licensed morning after pill was launched in Britain.

Early trials in the s used high doses of oestrogen, taken over five days, to prevent unwanted pregnancies before researchers discovered that a combination of oestrogen and progestogen was safer. By , it was available to buy from UK pharmacies.

Morning after pills designed to be taken within 72 hours of unprotected sex have been available from pharmacies for some years now, with a five-day emergency pill called ellaOne only available from GPs and family planning clinics. However in , the European Union changed the status of this 5-day emergency pill so that now, it can be bought from chemists across the UK without a prescription — just like the other emergency contraceptive pills. In , emergency contraceptives were licensed for under 16s in the UK which caused controversy among some campaigners who wanted to deny children access to it.

Whilst some sexual health charities welcomed the change in law, arguing that all women and girls should have access to the pill without fear of stigmatization, other organisations were resistant.