Boots to sell lower cost emergency contraceptive

Boots, the UK pharmacy chain, has announced it will sell a lower cost version of the emergency contraceptive pill throughout its chain of stores across the country, which has been welcomed by the charity British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) and consumer group SumOfUs.

The announcement follows the controversy earlier this year surrounding the sexist comments made by the pharmacy chain concerning the emergency contraceptive and the potential for Boots to be accused of ‘incentivising inappropriate use’ by women should a lower cost option be made available.

Through its campaign for affordable emergency contraception, the BPAS has amassed thousands of signatures in support, although in a recent statement, the charity has announced the receipt of a legal complaint from law firm Schillings, as representatives of Boots. The warning includes accusations of the harassment of senior Boots executives.

“Charging women more for basic birth control is little more than a thinly-veiled attempt to shame women for their reproductive choices, and we are pleased to learn that Boots has reversed its sexist and discriminatory price-gouging of the emergency contraceptive pill. Corporations have no business policing the reproductive lives of women. Emergency contraception is an essential public health resource and charging extra for it for fear that women will use it ‘inappropriately’ is an unconscionable display of slut-shaming,” stated Sondhya Gupta, senior campaigner at SumOfUs. “We support and congratulate the work of BPAS as well SumOfUs members who mobilised in the thousands to secure this victory for women.”

Clare Murphy, director of External Affairs at BPAS said: “We are pleased to see that in future Boots will be providing a cheaper emergency contraceptive product across its stores nationwide. We are extremely saddened that Boots feels the need to resort to legal warnings against a charity representing the concerns of women in the process