Chemists’ have been allowed to sell the morning after pill without a prescription to over-16s since 2001.(telegraph.co.uk)
The morning after pill is to be given out free over the phone for the first time, under a scheme to be announced today.
The British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) will encourage women to stock up on the emergency contraceptive over the Christmas period.
They will have to register their details on a website and will be phoned by a nurse for a 15-minute consultation intended to weed out young teenagers and assess suitability.
However, the charity has admitted that under-age girls will almost certainly obtain pills through the scheme by lying to them. Some children “will not be completely honest about their age”, a spokesman said. Under-16s would usually need a prescription to prevent a possible pregnancy in this way.
Andrew Lansley, the Health Secretary, said last night that he would prefer the pills to be issued after a face-to-face consultation but stopped short of saying he would intervene.
Other critics likened the scheme to dialling for a pizza and warned that teenagers would abuse it to obtain the morning after pill without their parents’ knowledge. They said it could fuel promiscuity and encourage unprotected sex, risking a rise in sexually transmitted diseases. BPAS said the service was vital at a time when many surgeries and pharmacies would be closed and because chemists’ shops charged up to £25 for the emergency contraceptive, too expensive for some women.
Some high street pharmacies already offer a similar service for a fee but the BPAS service is understood to be the first not to charge.
Chemists’ have been allowed to sell the morning after pill without a prescription to over-16s since 2001. Last year almost 250,000 doses were issued in England. But recent studies have found that providing the pills has failed to cut rates of conception.
A review published last year by the Cochrane Library concluded that women who received an advance supply of the morning after pill had the same chance of becoming pregnant as those who did not have early access to the contraceptive.
根据一项将于今日公布的计划，英国将首次通过电话免费提供紧急避孕药。
英国孕期咨询服务处将鼓励女性在圣诞节期间储备一些紧急避孕药。
申领者需要在网站注册详细信息，护士会通过电话对其进行15分钟的询问，以排除青少年，并评定适应性。
但提供药品的慈善机构承认，未成年少女也能够向他们撒谎，通过该计划得到药品。一位发言人表示，一些孩子“会谎报年龄”。16岁以下的少女通常需要药方，才可以以此避孕。
英国卫生大臣安德鲁•兰斯里昨晚表示，他认为药品应该通过面对面咨询的方式发放，但未表示自己会干预此事。
其 他批评者将该计划比作打电话叫披萨外卖，提醒称未成年人会在父母不知情的情况下，滥用这种方式得到避孕药。他们表示这会鼓励性乱交和没有保护措施的性生 活，有可能使性传播疾病增多。英国孕期咨询服务处表示，当很多诊疗室和药房歇业的时候，这种服务非常重要，而且药店的紧急避孕药售价为25英镑，对一些女 性来说价格过高。
一些商业街上的药房已开始有偿提供类似服务，但英国孕期咨询服务处的服务首次免费。
自2001年开始，药剂师被允许向16岁以上的人士出售紧急避孕药，无需处方。去年，英格兰出售了近25万剂药品。但近期研究发现，提供避孕药并没能减少意外怀孕的比例。
考昆图书馆去年发表的一份回顾得出结论称，能提早得到紧急避孕药的女性的怀孕几率和无法较早得到药物的女性相同。