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The Birth Control Shot
Depo-Provera
What is the birth control shot?
The birth control shot, or the shot, is an injection of a hormone that prevents pregnancy. Each shot prevents pregnancy for three months. The birth control shot is often referred to by its brand name, Depo-Provera, or by the name of the medicine in the shot, DMPA.
How does the shot work?
The shot contains progestin, one of the hormones found in birth control pills. The progestin works by keeping a woman's ovaries from releasing eggs, or ovulating. Pregnancy cannot happen if there is no egg to join with sperm. The hormone also causes a woman's cervical mucus to thicken, which blocks sperm and keeps it from joining with an egg.
How effective is this method?
The shot is 99 percent effective in preventing pregnancy. Less than one out of 100 women will get pregnant each year if they always use the birth control shot as directed. About three out of 100 women will get pregnant each year if they don't always use the birth control shot as directed.
What are the advantages of using this method?
- The shot is easy to use, and there is not a daily medication to take.
- The shot can be used by women who cannot take estrogen or who are breastfeeding.
- Receiving the shot may help reduce menstrual cramps.
- One shot prevents pregnancy for 12 weeks.
What are the disadvantages of using this method?
- The shot must be administered by a clinician, so if a woman chooses the shot as her method she will have to be able to see her health care provider once every 12 weeks to receive the shot.
- There may be a delay in getting pregnant after the shots are stopped.
- Your clinician will discuss medically-recognized benefits and risks.
- The shot does not protect against HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.
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The Patch (Ortho-Evra)
