The study involved 36 pregnant women who were exposed to levonorgestrel and 80 similar women who were not. A total of 25 deliveries took place in the exposed group and 69 occurred in the nonexposed group.
Although the results stem from a small study, "we believe that...exposure to this drug (around the time of conception) does not warrant a voluntary abortion" for fear of risks to the developing fetus, lead author Dr. Marco De Santis, from the Catholic University of Sacred Heart in Rome, and colleagues note in the journal Fertility and Sterility.
The researchers conclude that the data "showed that there is no increased risk of congenital (malformations) or adverse pregnancy outcomes that is caused by the failure of levonorgestrel."
