Necon and Pregnancy

The FDA has classified Necon as a pregnancy Category X medication, meaning it should not be used during pregnancy because it could cause serious problems (such as miscarriages or birth defects). If you are taking Necon and pregnancy occurs, you should stop using the pill immediately. However, if you accidentally used Necon for a while before realizing you were pregnant, it probably won't cause any serious problems.

 

Necon and Pregnancy: An Overview

Necon® is a birth control pill, known medically as an oral contraceptive. If you are pregnant, you should not intentionally take Necon (or any other birth control pill for that matter). While it is probably unlikely to cause serious problems if you do so, there is no good reason to do this.
 
Most women do not take birth control pills during pregnancy on purpose. Typically, it is done unknowingly, before a woman realizes that she is pregnant. Keep in mind that if you take Necon correctly (without missing any pills), the risk of pregnancy is quite low. If you miss your period while taking it, you may want to consider making sure you are not pregnant (an over-the-counter pregnancy test should be sufficient), especially if you have missed any of the pills. If you miss two periods in a row, you should definitely make sure you are not pregnant.
 

Necon and Pregnancy Category X

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) uses a category system to classify the possible risks to a fetus when a specific medicine is taken during pregnancy. Pregnancy Category X is given to medications that should not be used during pregnancy, usually due to serious problems that could occur, such as birth defects or miscarriages.
 
Although you may have heard that taking birth control pills during early pregnancy is dangerous, the truth is that doing so is not likely to cause any serious problems, even though Necon is a pregnancy Category X medication. Many studies have shown that there is no increased risk of birth defects when birth control pills are accidentally taken during early pregnancy. However, there is no good reason to take Necon during pregnancy. It will not prevent (or cause) a miscarriage and has no medical purpose for a pregnant woman.
 
(Necon and Pregnancy Continued: Page 2)
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Written by/reviewed by: Kristi Monson, PharmD; Arthur Schoenstadt, MD
Last reviewed by: Kristi Monson, PharmD;