Birth control pill prevents pregnancy five days after sex

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It would be a big turn-off for many love-makers who do not want a baby when they rush to the bedroom only to find that they don't have any birth control with them.

Some hormone-based emergency contraceptives, which prevent pregnancy by stopping an egg from being released or fertilized THREE days after sexual intercourse, are available by prescription.

Now Scottish researchers declared that they have found a chemical known as ulipristal acetate that can prevent pregnancy FIVE days after sex, BBC news reports.

The researchers tested ulipristal against levonorgestrel, which works three days after sexual activity, in 1,600 women from the UK, Ireland and the US.

Of women assigned levonorgestrel, 2.6 percent ended up becoming pregnant despite taking the birth control compared to 1.8 percent of women given ulipristal.

In a subgroup of women who received emergency contraceptives more than three days after sexual intercourse, none of those receiving ulipristal became pregnant while three of those taking levonorgestrel did.

By Jimmy Downs