BBC News Online: UK Politics

Morning after pill stays prescription only

The Minister for Public Health, Tessa Jowell, rejected pleas from the Liberal Democrat MP Dr Jenny Tonge to make the pill, which is effective up to 72 hours after unprotected sex, freely available without prescription.

'No immediate change'

Speaking during a short Commons debate, she said: "The prospect of immediate change is not available to us. But it is essential that we look at how we can make emergency contraception more accessible and more available to women who need it."

Dr Tonge said it often took too long to give the medical advice currently needed before the pill is prescribed.

Ms Jowell responded: "It is not acceptable that women have difficulty in making appointments with their GP or find their family planning clinic closed or are turned away from accident and emergency departments. Health authorities must ensure that this does not happen.

Awareness raising

She stressed that the government was committed to raising awareness about the pill, but that it currently considered the emergency pill was best taken with medical advice and not handed out by pharmacists.

Ms Jowell said women should receive the pill in an environment where they can receive "advice, support and counselling" but did not rule out the possibility of making the emergency pill available from more places in the future.

'Safer than aspirin'

But Dr Tonge stressed her belief that the pill was safe to use without medical supervision. She said: "It is safer than aspirin and paracetamol, and safer than many of the caffeine products sold as pep pills and safer than many drugs on sale in our petrol stations and supermarkets."

Dr Tonge said her attempts to change the law on the issue had the support of the British Medical Association, the Royal College of Nursing and the Family Planning Association and the Birth Control Trust.

She said: "Emergency contraception is not meant to be a substitute for sex education or regular contraception. It is a practical way to deal with the world as it is."

Making the pill available over the counter could help deal with the UK's high rate of abortion and may bring down the UK's rate of teenage pregnancies, which is the highest in Europe.

By making the morning after pill available over the counter Dr Tonge said many teenage women who may be intimidated buy a visit to their GP would receive contraception rather than have an abortion or an unwanted pregnancy.

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