If I take Plan B (or another emergency contraceptive) a couple times in my 20s, is that going to mess with my fertility later when I actually want kids?

Short answer: no, taking Plan B or other emergency contraception a few times in your 20s is not going to secretly destroy your fertility. Emergency contraception is a high, short burst of hormones that mainly works by delaying ovulation in that one cycle. It doesn’t kill your eggs, it doesn’t age your ovaries faster, and it doesn’t permanently change your ability to get pregnant later.

What it can do is make the next period or two show up early, late, heavier, or lighter. That’s cycle chaos, not infertility. Long-term fertility is way more affected by age, untreated STIs, smoking, chronic health issues, and conditions like PCOS or endometriosis than by a few doses of Plan B.

If your brain is doing the whole “did I break my body?” spiral, you can always Chat with Gush and walk through your timeline, your pills, and your plans without judgment.

Does taking Plan B in your 20s affect future fertility?

What emergency contraception actually does (and does not) do

Emergency contraception (EC) is damage control, not a fertility bomb.

Most people mean one of three things when they say Plan B or emergency birth control:

• Levonorgestrel pills (Plan B One-Step and generics)
• Ulipristal acetate (Ella)
• Copper IUD used as emergency contraception

Here’s how they work:

• Levonorgestrel (Plan B): A high dose of a progesterone-like hormone. Taken within 72 hours (ideally within 24), it delays or blocks ovulation. No egg released = nothing for sperm to fertilize.
• Ella (ulipristal): Tweaks how progesterone receptors work, also mainly delaying ovulation, and can work up to 5 days after sex.
• Copper IUD: Copper is toxic to sperm and makes the uterus super unfriendly to fertilization. It’s the most effective EC and then gives you ongoing contraception.

None of these permanently change your ovaries, uterus, or long-term hormonal programming.

Your menstrual cycle 101: where Plan B sneaks in

Your cycle runs in four main phases:

1. Menstrual phase (bleeding)
   Hormones: Estrogen and progesterone are low.
   Your uterus sheds its lining. This is your period.
2. Follicular phase (prep time)
   Hormones: FSH (follicle-stimulating hormone) from the brain tells your ovaries to mature a group of follicles (each with an egg). Estrogen starts rising.
   Your uterine lining begins rebuilding.
3. Ovulation (the main event)
   Hormones: A surge of LH (luteinizing hormone) triggers one follicle to release an egg.
   Egg hangs out ~12–24 hours, waiting for sperm.
4. Luteal phase (two-week wait)
   Hormones: Progesterone rises from the corpus luteum (the shell of the follicle that released the egg).
   If pregnancy doesn’t happen, progesterone falls and your next period starts.

Plan B comes in around late follicular phase. The big dose of levonorgestrel fakes your body into thinking progesterone is already high, so that LH surge gets blocked or delayed. No LH surge = no ovulation.

Then its levels drop quickly. That’s it. There is no ongoing hormonal takeover.

What the research actually says about Plan B and future pregnancy

We have decades of data on levonorgestrel and fertility. Here’s the headline: there is no evidence that emergency contraception harms long-term fertility.

Studies and medical guidelines (from groups like WHO, ACOG, and others) show:

• People who used emergency contraception can get pregnant as soon as their next cycle if they have unprotected sex again.
• Past EC use is not linked to higher rates of infertility, miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy, or birth defects.
• EC doesn’t “use up” eggs faster. Your ovarian reserve is determined before you’re born and decreases mainly with age and genetics, not one-off hormone spikes.

If EC really wrecked fertility, we’d see it in population data by now. We don’t. What we do see is EC users going on to have perfectly normal pregnancies.

How often is “too often” to use Plan B?

Medically, using levonorgestrel EC multiple times is considered safe. There’s no official lifetime maximum. But there are trade-offs:

• More frequent use = more likely to have weird cycles: early/late periods, spotting, heavier or lighter bleeds.
• It’s less effective than regular contraception. Relying on EC as your main method just means more pregnancy scares and more stress.
• If you need EC often, the issue isn’t that you’re “messing up your fertility.” The issue is that the system has failed you on access, education, or partners who actually wrap it up.

So: taking Plan B a few times in your 20s? Not a fertility problem. Using it as your only “method”? Still not a fertility problem, but absolutely a quality-of-life and mental load problem.

If your story doesn’t fit neatly into this (several EC doses, past abortions, weird cycles, medical stuff on top), you deserve a personalized unpacking. You can always talk it through with Gush and get judgment-free clarity on what your body’s been through.

What Plan B can do to your next few periods (short term)

Here’s where things do get messy — but it’s temporary:

• Timing shifts: Your next period might come a week early or a week late. That’s because ovulation was delayed or disrupted this cycle.
• Flow changes: Heavier, lighter, or more clotty than usual for a month or two.
• Spotting: Some people get random brown or light bleeding between taking EC and their next full period.

Hormone-wise, you’re getting:

• A sharp levonorgestrel spike from the pill.
• Then a quick drop, which can trigger some lining instability and bleeding.
• Your brain–ovary axis goes “wait, what?” for a minute, then resets.

Within 1–2 cycles, most people are back to their usual pattern.

What actually threatens fertility more than Plan B

If you’re thinking long-term baby plans, here are the real villains:

• Age: Fertility drops gradually in your late 20s, more in your 30s, sharper after 35.
• Untreated STIs: Chlamydia and gonorrhea can cause pelvic inflammatory disease, which can scar tubes and impact fertility.
• Smoking and heavy vaping: Damage egg quality and blood flow.
• Chronic conditions: Uncontrolled thyroid issues, diabetes, or autoimmune conditions.
• PCOS or endometriosis: Can affect ovulation or cause pelvic scarring.

None of these are caused by Plan B. If a doctor ever tries to blame your emergency contraception use for infertility without looking at the rest of your history, that’s lazy medicine.

When to actually see someone about your fertility

You do not need to panic and see a specialist just because you used EC in your 20s. But you should get checked out if:

• Your period hasn’t come 3 weeks after EC and a pregnancy test is negative.
• Your cycles were regular and then became extremely irregular (more than 35–40 days apart) for several months.
• You’ve been trying to conceive for 12 months (or 6 months if you’re 35+).
• You have intense pelvic pain, super heavy periods, or pain with sex.

Those signs point to possible underlying issues (hormonal, structural, or infection-related), not some kind of Plan B “damage.”

Big picture: you didn’t ruin your future

Using emergency contraception a few times is a response to a system that makes consistent, affordable, respectful care hard to access. You protected yourself with the tools you had. That’s not recklessness; that’s resourcefulness.

Your fertility story is shaped by:

• Your age
• Your medical history
• Your genetics and lifestyle
• Any conditions like PCOS, endometriosis, or STI history

A couple of emergency contraception pills are background noise in that bigger picture.