Bedikot on onot while spotting on the Pill

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August 28, 2014

Question

Is there any room for leniency with doing bedikot during the onot perisha? Are there any opinions that say you do not have to do bedikot? I am on the pill and I have the onot perisha coming up even though I will not be expecting my period – yet I am nervous because I rarely have a clear bedikah – I somehow always manage to be spotting at least to some extent throughout the month. It is not problematic when I am wearing dark underwear but I am worried that when I do the bedikot even the tiniest stain will render me niddah when it is not even my period.

Answer

Thank you for reaching out to us.

Halachic consensus is that a woman must perform at least one bedikah on each onat perishah.

If the pill you are using is a combined hormonal contraceptive (estrogen and progesterone), there is a range of perspectives on when to observe onot perishah. We follow the position that you observe onot perishah based only on your pill schedule. Please see our page on vesatot and hormonal contraception for details.

If you are taking a progesterone-only pill, you should continue to observe the usual onot perishah. Note that if you have a consistently long cycle (at least three consecutive intervals of 32 days or more), you need to observe only the interval, but not the date of the month or the onah beinonit.

Spotting is a common side effect of contraceptive pills. You can learn more about it on our pages on combined hormonal contraception and progesterone-only contraception, as well as our page on stains.

Please write back with any further questions.

This response was updated on 11 November, 2025.

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