Ovulation

[allie8909]

I was wondering if there is any chance of breakthrough ovulation on birth control if I take it within a 3 hour window every day. I’m on a combination pill.

[Heather]

The combined birth control pill isn't 100% effective. In one year of even perfect use, it's 99.7% effective, which means that yes, there is always some chance -- though it is incredibly small -- of even a perfect user in lab studies becoming pregnant (and thus, ovulating).

If you'd like as close to 100% protection from that as possible, what you'll need to do is just add a backup method, like a condom. Alternately, you could switch your primary method to something more effective than your pill, like an IUD or implant.