Not long ago, I noticed that a young woman had asked a question on Yahoo Questions about her risk of pregnancy from a situation in which she had fooled around with her boyfriend and was worried that she had gotten pregnant from his pre-ejaculate (pre-cum) as he had briefly put his penis inside her vagina without a condom. Even though she took Plan B (a form of emergency contraception, also called the morning after pill) about 19 hours following unprotected sex, she was still feeling very anxious and worried about her risk of pregnancy. This is what I said in my response:
It would be HIGHLY unlikely that you would get pregnant from this sexual encounter with your boyfriend for several reasons:
1. A woman actually does NOT have the same chance of getting pregnant from pre-ejaculate as she does from ejaculate; in fact, research studies have shown that there are very rarely any sperm at all in pre-ejaculate. Is it *possible* to get pregnant from a man’s pre-ejaculate? Yes – but it would be very rare and very unlikely.
2. You took Plan B, which is a highly effective form of pregnancy prevention. When used correctly, and when taken soon after unprotected sex (within 72 hours), it is HIGHLY effective at preventing pregnancy. You took Plan B at 19 hours following unprotected sex, which increases the likelihood of it being effective if, by some rare chance, your egg met his sperm from exposure to pre-ejaculate. Emergency contraception works in several ways; the primary mechanism is by preventing ovulation (the release of an egg). It also works by helping to thicken the cervical mucus which would help to prevent any sperm that were still alive from swimming up into your uterus and getting to a fallopian tube, where an egg (ovum) might be waiting. It may be that the discharge you noticed is a result of the Plan B having thickened this mucus, which is now coming out as discharge.
3. It doesn’t sound as though you were close to ovulating on Dec 31/Jan1 as you are correct that ovulation occurs about 14 days prior to the first day of bleeding. If you were supposed to start your next period on Jan 19, and if your cycle is regular/predictable, then you are correct to expect that you would be ovulating on or about January 5. That said, if sperm entered your vagina on Dec 31/Jan 1, it is possible that a few may *possibly* have survived until the 5th when you would have ovulated… but remember, emergency contraception works by preventing ovulation so it is unlikely that you ovulated on the 5th anyway.
Finally, it’s worth noting that the physical symptoms you have been experiencing may be a result of the stress and worrying about this.
You are also very wise to think about what you can learn from this – like taking a health class (if one is offered) or talking to your healthcare provider about contraception (such as the birth control pill, patch or ring) if you think you might continue to be sexual with your boyfriend or anyone else in this way. It may help to ease your mind and reduce stress to learn more about pregnancy prevention and to use a reliable method of birth control, or to – as you’re doing already – use condoms. Talking to your boyfriend about your feelings about sex, contraception, your readiness for sex, and pregnancy risk may help you two out as well.
I’ve addressed similar issues related to pregnancy risk at Kinsey Confidential. Another good teen-focused site with quality information is TeenWire.
Best,
Debby
[Photo by skampy, via Flickr/Creative Commons.]
