Morning after pill should be easier to access, report says

Access to emergency contraceptives should be made easier for women, according to a new report.

The ‘Better for Women’ report calls on the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to make the ‘morning after pill' available to buy off-the-shelf from pharmacies without the need for a consultation.

The report, by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) also states that the ‘morning after pill’, also known as emergency hormonal contraception (EHC), should be free of charge over the counter in the UK.

Other progestogen-only (POP) contraceptives should be reclassified as a ‘pharmacy product’ and be available to order online.

The RCOG issued the report to encourage the NHS and government develop Women’s Health Strategies across the UK.

In Scotland and Wales EHC are available free of charge and without prescription. The RCOG states that women and girls in England face having to pay up to £3,513 for EHC since it isn’t free of charge in 50% of services in England – making it unaffordable for many.

More so, even when EHC is free of charge, a mandatory consultation with a pharmacist can make women and girls uncomfortable and stigmatised.

The report also calls on the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) to consider making it legal for women to take the early abortion drug mifepristone at home, if they know they are less than 10 weeks pregnant.  

All women in England, Wales and Northern Ireland must also be offered the same opportunities for IVF treatments as those in Scotland, the report states. Women under 40 who have been trying to get pregnant for two years should be offered three full cycles of IVF, as per the NICE Fertility Guideline.