LONDON - The number of women availing the morning-after pill as a contraceptive method has doubled in the last year after the rules changed allowing women to buy the pills without needing a prescription from their GPs.
The UK's Office for National Statistics found that over-the-counter purchases of the morning-after pill increased fro 27 percent in 2003-04 to 50 percent in 2004-05. But the percentage of women using the emergency pill remained the same at 7 percent. Women in the age group 16-49 mainly used the pill.
The percentage of women who asked their GPs for prescription fell from 41 percent in 2003-04 to 33 percent in 2004-05, while the number of women who brought it from a minor injuries center fell from 11 percent to 3 percent.
The percentage of women getting the morning after pill from a family planning center remained the same at 21 percent. 46 percent of the women who used the pill admitted that the main reason for the use was condom failure.
Commenting on these findings, Toni Belfield, of the Family Planning Association, said, "It is understandable that women will find their local pharmacy an easier place to get hold of emergency pills, because of longer opening hours and greater accessibility. This is important because emergency hormonal contraception is only effective within 72 hours of unprotected sex so the sooner women get hold of it the better."
The report also says that the number of girls aged between 13-15 who attended family planning clinics increased to 10 percent in 2003-04 as compared to 6 percent about ten years ago, but this number slipped to 9 percent in 2004-05. This is sure to worry health administrators who have always maintained that young people are not properly informed about sexual health. It must be noted that Britain has one of the highest teenage pregnancy rates in Europe.
