( Canadian researchers say that the mor...)Morning after pill effective up to five days after having unprotected sex,Health

Canadian researchers say, that the morning after pill, which rescues many women from unwanted pregnancies can be effective up to five days after having unprotected sex. These findings were released after a study conducted by Dr. Isabel Rodrigues, a professor of family medicine at the University of Montreal in Quebec, Canada, and colleagues. The study is published in the March issue of the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and was funded by the Federation des Medecins Omnipracticiens du Quebec.

The idea of the study was to find out if women were safe if they used the emergency contraceptive even after the 72-hour period. The researchers were surprised to find out that in almost 90% of the cases the morning after pill was as effective up to five days after having unprotected sex!! Earlier, once a woman crossed the 3-day barrier, the options to escape pregnancy narrowed. These were, surgical abortion or the abortion pill RU- 486, use of which is not legal in many countries.

The scientists studied 300 women after they had unprotected sex and distributed the morning after pill to half the group within 3 days and to half the group after 3 days. The women were followed up and the pregnancy rate was compared between the two groups. It was surprising that there was hardly any difference between the two groups thereby proving that taking the morning after pill up to 5 days after having unprotected sex was indeed a wise thing to do.