Breastfeeding is a very unreliable birth control method, as is the rhythm method (counting fertile days), and coitus interruptus (withdrawal). The breast feeding cannot be supplemented (ie no skipping feeds) or even the relatively weak protection is lost.

BCP or long acting hormonal injections (jabs) prevent ovulation–no egg, no fertilization, no implantation

Plan B only works reliably within 72 hrs of intercourse– either to prevent ovulation, or fertilization or implantation (depending on your cycle at the time of intercourse, how fast you have taken it, and how fast his “swimmers” are)

IUDs with hormones prevent ovulation, fertilization, and implantation, and without hormones inhibit fertilization and prevent implantation.

Spermicides prevent fertilization.

Barrier methods (condoms, diaphragms, foam, sponges) prevent fertilization.

Most Muslims set ensoulment (personhood) at 120 days, some schools at 40, some at 10 and rarely at conception (fertilization). The longer you wait the worse interrupting reproduction is, both islamically and medically, but is always allowed to spare the life of the mother.

Islam prohibits permanent forms of contraception (tubal ligation, hysterectomy, oopherectomy, or vasectomy) unless they are necessary to spare life (usually the woman’s).

Non-permanent forms of birth control like those above are acceptable for the reasons given in the post.

The pregnant from menarche to menopause is more likely cultural, familial, tribal.

And the injunction about not having children due to want is most often interpreted as a reference to infanticide (common in pre-Islamic Arabia) rather than birth control or family planning/spacing.

Hope this (belated) summary helps.

The body is “tricked” into thinking it is pregnant. This prevents the release of an egg (ovulation). Without an egg to be fertilized, you can’t become pregnant.

The cervical mucus is thickened, making it hard for sperm to travel toward the egg and fertilize it, in case an egg is released.

It doesn’t say anything about implantation. But it does tend to make periods lighter, so it’s possible that it could work against implantation if given the chance, I don’t know for sure. In any case, that chance is pretty low.

Other than that, no arguments with what you said. The morning-after pill is indeed a stupid thing to use as a primary means of contraception, which is why it’s called Plan B.

A2S ”The pill” does not prevent sperm and egg meeting, or the eggs from being released, it prevents any fertilised egg from nestling into the wall of the womb.

An arab friend told me that the prophet (pbuh) has stated that a baby only counts as a real soul after 120 days. So the ”morning after pill’ would be allowable. (though pretty stupid in my opnion to use as anticonception) Anyway doesn’t life and health come before all in Islam? Using women as broodmares isn’t conductive to their health.

Counting days method was responsible for a friend of mine getting a little sister. Her mother (very happy with the unplanned baby) decided to rely on more serious birthcontrol afterwards.
The best ”natural/” way of preventing new pregnancies, I read somewhere is suckling your baby. While still suckling your womb apparently will be unresponsive to a new pregnancy. While this is not as watertight as the pill, or a condom, it seems to have a pretty high success rate in Africa where it was widely used until the west started peddling their anti-conception pills there to make money out of poor people.