Oral contraceptive pill

Oral contraceptives, abbreviated OCPs, are medications taken by mouth for the purpose of birth control.

Female

Two types of female oral contraceptive pill are widely available:

• The combined oral contraceptive pill contains oestrogen and a progestogen, and is taken once per day.
• The progestogen-only pill contains only progestogen, and is also taken once per day.

Emergency contraception pills are taken at the time of intercourse, or within a few days afterwards.

• Yuzpe regimen uses combined oral contraceptives for emergency contraception.
• Ulipristal acetate is an antiprogestogen, emergency contraceptive pill.

Other types of female oral contraceptive are experimental or only available in limited areas:

• Mifepristone is an antiprogestogen which has been used as a daily oral contraceptive in investigational clinical trials.
• Ormeloxifene (also known as Centchroman) is a selective oestrogen receptor modulator which is taken one to two times per week. Ormeloxifene is approved as an oral contraceptive only in India.

Male

• Male oral contraceptives are currently not available commercially, although several possibilities are in various stages of research and development

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