What are the benefits of the birth control pill?

In This Section

• Birth Control Pill
• How effective is the pill?
• Are there birth control pill side effects?
• How safe is the pill?
• How do I use the pill?

• What do I do if I miss a birth control pill?
• How do I get the pill?
• What are the benefits of the pill?
• What are the disadvantages of the pill?

The pill is an effective way to prevent pregnancy.

If you follow the instructions and use the birth control pill correctly, it gives you great protection against pregnancy.

All you have to do is stick to your daily pill schedule, and make sure you start your new packs on time — that’s it. But if you miss or forget pills, it won’t work as well. You can use our birth control reminder app to keep you on track.

You can use condoms along with your birth control pills to get extra protection from pregnancy. Bonus: condoms also help protect against STDs.

The pill has health benefits.

Side effects aren’t always a bad thing, and birth control pills aren’t just for birth control. The pill has many perks besides pregnancy prevention.

Both combination and progestin-only pills reduce menstrual cramps, lighten periods, and lower your risk of ectopic pregnancy.

The combination pill can also help prevent or lessen:

• acne

• bone thinning

• cysts in your breasts and ovaries

• endometrial and ovarian cancers

• serious infections in your ovaries, fallopian tubes, and uterus

• iron deficiency (anemia)

• PMS (premenstrual syndrome)

You can keep track of any potential side effects with our birth control app.

The pill can make your periods better.

Lots of people like the pill because it makes their periods regular and easy to predict. The hormones in the pill can also reduce menstrual cramps and make your period lighter.

You can also use the pill to safely skip your period, which is totally convenient for people who want a special occasion to be period-free, or just don’t want a visit from Aunt Flo every month.

You can get pregnant right away when you stop taking the pill.

Many people on the pill want to have kids when the time is right. One of the great things about the birth control pill is you can get pregnant right after you stop taking it.

After you stop taking the pill, it can take a few months for your periods to return to the cycle you had before you started using it. Once in a while, people have irregular periods or no periods at all for a few months. This is more likely if your periods were irregular before you started taking the pill.

Even if your regular period doesn’t come back right away, it’s still possible to get pregnant when you’re not taking the pill. So if you’re going off the pill but don’t want to get pregnant, start using another birth control method right away.

The pill is convenient.

Taking the birth control pill is easy, but remembering to take it every day can be hard. Luckily, pill packs are small — about the size of a cell phone — so you can carry your pills with you wherever you go. You can use our birth control app to remind you to take your pills everyday.

The pill is birth control you don’t have to think about during sex. If you take the pill correctly, you’re protected from pregnancy all day, every day. Many people say the pill makes their sex lives better because they don’t have to interrupt sex or worry about pregnancy.

You need a prescription from a nurse or doctor to get birth control pills. But you may be able to pick up many packs at once or have them mailed to you. Depending on where you live, you can even get birth control pills online.