How do hormonal contraceptives work?

Hormonal contraceptives contain a progestin (progesterone medicine) with or without an estrogen. Both progestin and estrogen are made in a laboratory and are similar to the hormones that people who are biologically female naturally produce. These two hormones together, or the progestin alone, work in several ways to prevent a pregnancy:

• They can prevent ovulation (the release of an egg).
• They make the mucus around the cervix (lower part of uterus) thicker so that sperm cannot enter the uterus (womb).
• They make the lining of the uterus thinner to prevent a fertilized egg from attaching itself.