Contraception: understanding your options
What each family of methods does, what the decision actually depends on, and what is available free in India.
What this course is for
Five short lessons on choosing and using contraception. It covers what separates the methods from one another, how to think about suitability, what to expect from your body in the first few months, emergency contraception and its windows, and what the public health system provides. It does not recommend a method, because that decision needs your medical history. Written by AskHer's editorial team from published guidance, and not yet signed off by a clinician registered in India — which is why no clinical reviewer is named. This is general education, not advice about your own situation, and it does not replace seeing a clinician.
- Lessons
- 5 lessons
- Length
- about 0.8 hours
- Formats
- Text
- Level
- No prior knowledge assumed
Languages, before you enrol
A language is listed as available only when a second person who speaks it has reviewed the content. Machine translation on its own never counts as availability here.
- Reviewed and available now
- English
What you will be able to do
- Compare methods by how much they depend on being remembered
- Explain why suitability is decided with a clinician and not at a counter
- Describe what to expect from bleeding in the first few months on a method
- State the emergency contraception windows and which method has the longest one
- Know which methods the public health system provides free
No prerequisites. This course assumes nothing and starts from the beginning.
Course contents
5 lessons · about 0.8 hours
- 1 Free to read
What actually separates the methods
Not how they work — how much they depend on you remembering something.
11 min · Text
- 2 Free to read
Suitability, and why it is a conversation rather than a counter
What makes a method unsuitable, and why the WHO publishes eligibility criteria at all.
12 min · Text
- 3 Free to read
The first few months, and what your periods will do
Bleeding changes are the commonest effect, they are expected, and knowing that in advance matters.
10 min · Text
- 4 Free to read
Emergency contraception, and the windows
The tablet up to 72 hours, the copper IUD up to five days, and why sooner is better in both cases.
9 min · Text
- 5 Free to read
What the public health system provides
Which methods are free under the National Health Mission, and what varies by state and facility.
8 min · Text
On the same learning path
Other courses on Contraception basics. This is the path they belong to, not a recommendation based on anything you have read — AskHer does not build a profile of your reading.
Contraception decision-making: what matters to you, and changing your mind
Working out what you actually need from a method, what privacy and cost do to the choice, and what happens when you switch or stop.
Free · 4 lessons