Morning After Pill

The Herald reports:

Girls may be given free access to the emergency contraceptive pill at their local Auckland pharmacies in a bid to reduce teen pregnancies and abortions.

The medicine can already be sold by many pharmacists without a doctor’s prescription, including to girls without parental consent.

I have some concerns with this proposal. Not to do with having it available without parental consent – that has been the case for over a decade. I would hate to see however the morning after pill seen as just like any other contraceptive, and something which is okay to take regularly, as oppossed to in an emergency.

For that reason there is some benefit about having to see a doctor, who can impress upon the recipient the need for proper contraception. One doesn’t want to make it difficult for people to get hold of, but I am aware through friends who have taken it that can cause nausea and vomiting plus some tenderness, so it really is preferable not to have to rely on it too often. Adults know this, but young teenagers do not always.

Obviously it doesn’t affect me directly, but I used to be a youth leader to a group of 14 to 18 year olds, and part of that sometimes involved helping them cope with the consequences of unprotected (or protection which failed) sex, and it really did help to have them see a doctor to get the emergency contraceptive pill, rather than just grab one from the pharmacy.