What happens if you meant to use barrier protection but it didn’t happen? Maybe you forgot, maybe in the heat of the moment you decided not to, or maybe your partner didn’t want to and you agreed. Forgetting to use protection isn’t the end of the world, just make sure you consider what risk it might have put you or your partner in and what you can do to mitigate that risk.

If you or your partner(s) are someone who could get pregnant;

If the sex you had might lead to pregnancy, and that is something you want to avoid, there are options out there. First, consider what the likelihood is that conception just happened – did your partner ejaculate inside of you? Where are you on your menstrual cycle? Are you using another contraception method like birth control or an IUD? Do you still get a period? Have you already gone through menopause? The answers to these questions by no means guarantee you will or won’t get pregnant, they just might give you an idea of how high your risk is.

While it is unfortunately not a very cheap option, Emergency Contraceptive Pills (ECPs) are available at most drugstores in Nova Scotia. ECPs are commonly referred to as ‘the morning after pill’ or called by a common brand name ‘Plan B’. One pack contains 2 pills that you take shortly after sex. It is best to prioritise getting these pills as soon after as possible in order for them to be most effective. These pills work by preventing an egg from being released from your ovary, preventing the sperm from fertilising the egg, and preventing an egg that has been fertilised from implanting itself into the uterine wall.

While this pill works well, the more times you use it the less effective it becomes, and the more likely it is to cause more long term damage to your body. ECPs are not a regular sexual health strategy.

Another major drawback of ECPs is the fact that they work only for folks within certain weight categories. The specifics of this vary from pill to pill, but point to deeply rooted body size biases within reproductive healthcare – leaving many folks without access to an important emergency option.

If an ECP isn’t right for you, and you can get an appointment with a healthcare provider who can insert an IUD within five days of having sex, then an emergency IUD might be the option you choose. These devices are inserted into your uterus and can be highly effective in preventing pregnancy. These are also a great longer term solution as they can stay in your body and continue to act as a contraceptive.

Lastly, if you end up getting pregnant and are unsure of what you want to do there are support services you can talk to to help you talk through a decision. If you decide to get an abortion there are abortion support services across the province and you can call the Reproductive Options and Services Clinic self-referral line (1-833-352-0719) to get connected with these services. We also recommend keeping a close eye out for Crisis Pregnancy Centers as these centres may be dangerous and misleading. They may present themselves as pro-choice clinics and in reality may have no medical licences and strong religious anti-abortion agendas. Deciding whether to have an abortion is an extremely personal choice. There are inclusive, kind, and understanding supports out there that will honour your choice and encourage you to do what is right for you, your body, and your life.

If you decide to carry out the pregnancy you can check out this Nova Scotia resource to learn more about your options for care.

You can learn more about where we got this information from at: ActionCanada, NSHealth, ARCC, NSHealth
*disclaimer: we do not necessarily endorse all of the information, content, or language used in these references

If you are worried you might have gotten HIV

If you are in an at-risk population for HIV, have a partner who is HIV+, or don’t know the status of your partner, and you mean to use barrier protection there are options out there! A medication called PEP has been developed and can prevent HIV infection even after exposure to HIV. Check out our section on PEP to learn more about how it works and where to access it.

Consider testing regularly after this potential exposure to make sure you didn’t end up contracting the virus. You can learn more about HIV tests and testing window periods here.

If you do end up with HIV there are many treatment options available. It can be hard to hear you are HIV positive, but it does not mean you can’t live a long healthy life with as much good sex as you want! To learn more about HIV treatment check out the HIV Treatment section.

If you are worried you might have gotten other STIs

Recently, medications have been developed that can prevent development of bacterial STIs after exposure. This antibiotic medication can be taken 1-3 days after exposure, and decreases your likelihood of the infection establishing itself, it is called doxycycline post-exposure prophylaxis, or doxy-PEP. This medication works to prevent chlamydia, gonorrhoea, and syphilis. This medication has not been approved in Nova Scotia. That being said, doctors can prescribe off-label doxy-PEP, so it is worth asking your doctor about if you think you might have been exposed to a bacterial STI.

We also recommend speaking to your doctor and making a full STI testing plan, you can check out our checklists here to learn more about what that can look like. The majority of STIs can be treated, and will have no long lasting health effects if treated properly and shortly after contracting them.

During the period of time when you are unsure if you ended up with an STI, make sure to be extra careful to stick to your sexual health strategies – you don’t want to end up being the source of an STI for someone else, or contracting another infection at the same time! If you know that you had an exposure to an STI it’s recommended not to have sex that can pass the STI on to a partner until you have been tested.

You can learn more about where we got this information from at: HSHC, CBC
*disclaimer: we do not necessarily endorse all of the information, content, or language used in these references