I've had unprotected sex. Am I likely to get pregnant?

You can get pregnant at any time during your monthly cycle. This is measured from the start of one period to the beginning of the next. Although people talk about a 'safe time of the month', it's hard to tell when this is for lots of reasons.

Your most fertile time of the month is when you are ovulating (producing an egg). But most women are not aware of this happening.  Also, it takes quite a long time (several days) for an egg to make its way from the ovary down the Fallopian tube and an egg can be fertilised at any point during this journey. Sperm can live for up to 7 days, so even if you haven't ovulated when you have sex, the sperm could still fertilise the egg afterwards.

Then there's the fact that lots of women don't have regular periods. The time between periods can vary, depending on what's happening in your life, whether you're stressed or upset and whether or not you're eating properly. This makes it even more difficult to calculate your 'safe' period.

When accidents happen, and you don't want to get pregnant, emergency contraception is there as a back up. It's not something you should use regularly and you should never think of it as an alternative to a long-term method of birth control.

More than 72 hours since you had unprotected sex?

What is emergency contraception?