Emergency contraception ‘does not encourage’ unsafe sex

The sale of the ‘morning-after’ pill over the counter in the UK has not increased its use or changed patterns of use, a new study has found.

Emergency hormonal contraception (EHC) has been available without prescription to British women aged 16 or over since January 2001, costing between £20-£25.

There had been fears that making EHC available without prescription would encourage unsafe sex, particularly among teenagers. However, supporters argued that providing easier access to EHC would help to reduce unwanted pregnancies.

The study, published by the British Medical Journal (BMJ), examined the use of EHC among British women aged 16 to 49, to assess the impact of making the contraceptive available over the counter.

Researchers from London’s Imperial College found that the level of use of different contraceptives remained very similar before and after EHC was made available over the counter. Researchers found that 8.4% of women used the morning-after pill in 2000, compared to 7.9% in 2001 and 7.2% in 2002.

The study also found there was no significant change in the proportion of women using more regular methods of contraception, such as the oral contraceptive pill, or in the proportion of women using EHC more than once during a year.

However, researchers found that there was now a greater proportion of women purchasing EHC over the counter than obtaining it from general practitioners and NHS clinics.

The authors of the study concluded that making EHC available over the counter does not seem to have led to an increase in its use or unprotected sex or a decrease in the use of more reliable methods of contraception.

The BMJ said that the results of the study suggested that the predicted rise in unsafe sex had been “overstated” and supported the case for lifting the ban on over the counter sales in the US and other countries.

(KMcA/MB)