“You're not necessarily pregnant”: Confusion about emergency contraception

Misconceptions about what emergency contraception does are common and have resulted in policy efforts to restrict access. Understanding the beliefs and reasoning behind people's uncertainty and lack of knowledge about emergency contraception helps shed light on key misconceptions and how advocates, providers, and researchers can improve clarity. We conducted a secondary analysis using previously collected qualitative data from card sort and vignette activities focused on scenarios related to emergency contraception and if participants considered these scenarios abortions (N = 64). We identified three major themes related to participants' classification of emergency contraception: uncertainty and pregnancy liminality; timing and mechanism of action; and the role of intention and overlap with medication abortion. Our study demonstrates that people lack a consistent, coherent understanding of what emergency contraception does, which has implications for contraceptive access and service provision. Furthermore, these misconceptions can become politicized and undergird the rationale for restrictions on sexual and reproductive health care.