Can I have a baby if I take birth control pills?

  Patients often ask: Can I still have the baby if I get pregnant after taking the pill? I have summarized that there are three main types of problems that are more common: the first is the failure of taking birth control pills, including the failure of emergency contraceptive pills or the failure caused by the omission of short-acting contraceptive pills; the second is taking birth control pills by mistake in early pregnancy; and the third is pregnancy within a short period of time after stopping birth control pills.  Can I still have the baby if I get pregnant after taking the pill? This question cannot be generalized, but mainly depends on the composition of the contraceptive pill and the amount of pills used.  Yutin, Huiting and Antin are emergency contraceptives containing levonorgestrel 1.5mg, which are progestin-only tablets. The principle of action is: when used before ovulation, it can inhibit the growth and development of follicles and prevent or delay ovulation; when used after ovulation, it can interfere with the fertilization of eggs or resist the fertilization of eggs. If the fertilized egg is already in bed at the time of use, then the emergency contraceptive pill is ineffective. Clinical case-control studies in recent years have concluded that clinically applied doses of oral contraceptives have no significant teratogenic effects. Emergency contraceptives containing levonorgestrel during early pregnancy are not harmful to the fetus. Therefore, there is no teratogenic effect of taking these emergency contraceptives, either during pregnancy or shortly after stopping them, and even if pregnancy occurs after taking them, theoretically there is no increase in the incidence of fetal malformation. Another class of emergency contraceptives, mifepristone, has been used as a drug for abortion at doses that have effects on vital fetal organs, and there is no evidence of its safety for use in emergency contraception. Although the dose is administered before fertilization of the egg, which is not a teratogenic sensitive period, and the dose of mifepristone is small, there is no evidence to confirm this. Therefore, the occurrence of pregnancy after taking mifepristone emergency contraception is viewed with caution and the mother-to-be is at risk if she continues with the pregnancy.  The short-acting oral contraceptives that are currently available in the market, including Mafenac, Mecinlab, Mintin, Daing-35, Tegucel, and Ursine, are compounded formulations containing small doses of estrogen and progestin, and are part of a new generation of oral contraceptives that have the characteristic of restoring fertility immediately after discontinuation. Generally speaking, 70% of women resume ovulation in the first cycle after stopping the pill, and 90% of women resume ovulation within 3 months. The drug has no effect on the fetus after discontinuation, and the incidence of neonatal malformations does not increase. Therefore, pregnancy is possible immediately after discontinuation of the drug, without waiting for 3-6 months.  The teratogenic effect of drugs depends on the composition, dose and route of administration and the time of administration of drugs. Foreign studies on more than 70 kinds of contraceptives, progestins and their metabolites for animal teratology, found that about 10 kinds of drugs have teratogenic effects on experimental animals, such as taking norethindrone 500mg or more can cause female fetus masculinization, but this dose is far more than the dose contained in the oral, injectable or implant contraceptives used now. Thus, the World Health Organization, in its 2000 revision of Medical Criteria for the Selection of Contraceptive Methods, states that no known adverse effects on mother and child have been found with the use of combination short-acting oral contraceptives during pregnancy. Although teratogenic factors are ruled out with contraceptive use, systematic screening for embryonic and fetal quality is needed for each pregnancy because embryonic and fetal quality is influenced by many factors. For example, ultrasound can be performed at 11-14 weeks of pregnancy to rule out obvious abnormalities and to determine the thickness of the posterior nuchal fold; at 14-20 weeks of pregnancy, the mother’s serum can be taken for congenital dysmorphism screening, and if necessary, chorionic villus sampling, amniocentesis or umbilical cord blood specimens can be performed to test for fetal chromosomal abnormalities. In addition, ultrasound screening can also be done at 20-24 weeks and 28-30 weeks of pregnancy.  The conclusion that levonorgestrel emergency contraceptive drugs such as Antin, Wheaten and Yutin are not harmful to the embryo in early pregnancy has not been confirmed by sufficient information. It is also unlikely that clinical experiments will be conducted with these drugs. Therefore, it is advisable to take a cautious approach. A dose of 1.5mg of levonorgestrel per dose is not small. There are definitely risks. It is recommended to decide to continue pregnancy after careful consideration according to individual circumstances, such as older people who are not easily pregnant and precious children.  2, although there are more systematic methods of pregnancy screening, but at present the types of medical abnormalities or chromosomal abnormalities that can be detected are after all limited, and many chromosomal abnormalities or small abnormalities are not guaranteed to be detected.