In conversations about the Pill, I’ve learned that a disturbingly high number of people are working under the assumption that a woman only takes the Pill right before she has sex, and that if she doesn’t have sex that day, then she doesn’t need to take the Pill. They’re picturing it like an aspirin or ibuprofen for a headache—you only take it when you actually have a headache. But that’s not how the Pill works. You have to take it every day no matter what, or it doesn’t work, and you may need to take it for a full week after starting it before it is effective.
