How Does Yasmin Prevent Pregnancy?

Like other combined contraceptive pills, Yasmin is very effective at preventing pregnancy. It does so by three mechanisms so that you have back up protection if one of these mechanisms fails. The pill relies on maintaining a constant level of the hormones through the critical time of your cycle so if you do not use the pill correctly, you disrupt this flow and you raise the risk of pregnancy.

The pill can stop an egg from being released. During a normal cycle, an egg is released during ovulation due to fluctuations in the levels of oestrogen and progestogen. The pill supplies a certain level of these hormones, which tricks the body into thinking that it has already ovulated. In doing so, no egg will actually be released during the cycle. If there is no egg, there is nothing for the sperm to fertilise so you will not fall pregnant.

The pill can also reduce the amount of sperm that reach the egg. Normally, only a minority of the sperm would complete the journey across the womb to fertilise the egg. There is a mucous fluid that lines the neck of the womb and the pill acts upon this, making it thicker. If it is more viscous, it forms a plug, which the sperm have great difficulty in swimming through. This means that the number of sperm that can actually get to where the egg is supposed to be is greatly reduced because they cannot swim through the mucous.

The pill can also prevent a fertilised egg from attaching to the womb. In order to be successful, the egg must implant into the uterus wall and it needs the wall to be extra thick for it to be successful. The pill thins the uterus wall so much so that the egg cannot attach to the lining and it will not lead to pregnancy. Therefore, it is highly unlikely that you will fall pregnant whilst using the contraceptive pill.

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