The depo shot (AKA Depo-Provera) is an injection you get once every 3 months. It’s a safe, convenient, and private birth control method that works really well if you always get it on time.

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The birth control shot (sometimes called Depo-Provera, the Depo shot, or DMPA) contains the hormone progestin.  Progestin stops you from getting pregnant by preventing ovulation.  When there’s no egg in the tube, pregnancy can’t happen. It also works by making cervical mucus thicker. When the mucus on the cervix is thicker, the sperm can’t get through. And when the sperm and the egg can’t get together, pregnancy can’t happen.