~sigh~ i wish we could catch up.

[winterknight.livejournal.com]

"One of Britain's largest supermarket chains plans to give teen-agers the morning-after contraceptive pill for free as part of a national effort to reduce the number of teen pregnancies.... The morning-after pill is a high dose of birth control pill taken within 72 hours of unprotected sex to prevent pregnancy. It is already available free with a prescription, but many women do not want to wait for a doctor's appointment and buy it over the counter for a fee."

http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/ap20020318_489.html

(btw, you can contact the store http://www.tesco.com/ if you'd like to let them know how you feel about it.)

Comments

[arachne.livejournal.com]

On the other hand, UK pro-lifers are trying to get emergency contraception banned based on a 2-centuries-old (roughly) law.

Linkage: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/health/newsid_1813000/1813909.stm

[winterknight.livejournal.com]

i think they'll be hard pressed with it. i think they're wasting a lot of time and money that could be used caring for children presently in foster care. i'd love to see what one could do with all the money they waste. :p if they were pro-life for real, they'd be taking care of the living.

[arachne.livejournal.com]

Couldn't agree more myself. Here's hoping the law-lords laugh it out of the building.

[winterknight.livejournal.com]

it's not so much that i even care to argue when a child is alive and when it is not... it's the hypocrisy of dumping money into the "saving" of theoretical babies of the future when so many living, breathing, present-tense little human beings are suffering and alone and without hope that outrages me.

[one-song-glory.livejournal.com]

What a wonderful idea! Now I'll grant, I've never been in the situation that I've needed emergency contraception, but I can't even tell you how many times I've held a friend's hand while waiting in a Planned Parenthood clinic because "the condom broke last night!". The runaround some places put you through is absolutely preposterous. I'm of the opinion that the morning-after pill should be easily available, wherever you go.

[xallix.livejournal.com]

I'd have to agree with you on this.. And I know I've also been with friends who have tried to get the morning after pill and who have gone through some major problems to get it. They would've rather just paid for it and not had to go through all the worry and hassle it takes to get the prescription.

[erynchrista.livejournal.com]

I, too, am for that idea. I've been worried myself at times and I found out that the morning after pills aren't all that cheap, unfortunately, unless your income is super low and the local health department will give it to you at practically no cost. My friend had to take it at one point and it cost her nearly $200! Granted, this was a couple of years ago, so I'm sure things change, but still....

[therealocelot.livejournal.com]

I'd be a bit worried about offering the morning after pill with no prescription necessary from a health point of view. I don't have any problem with it being low cost and easily available, but the idea of it being available for indiscriminate use makes me a bit nervous.

Of course, most OTC drugs can cause problems of some sort or another.

Re:

[winterknight.livejournal.com]

oh, i have serious reservations about it being available over the counter, but if it is, then i think the gesture the chain is making is a generous one and one of the first times i've seen a major corporation openly support a pro-choice agenda.

[linzbinz.livejournal.com]

In Washington, you can get the Morning-After pill for $30 at almost all Bartells and Walgreens drug stores, without a prescription... How cool is that?

[urania.livejournal.com]

I think dispensing w/o a prescription is OK if and only if it's done with information/"conseling" from the pharmacist--not counseling as in "how do you feel about this," but side effect counseling, counseling on "here's what to do if you think you're having a bad reaction, here's what's normal to expect, here's how long it's effective for, are you sure you understand the instructions?" etc. Pharmacists are really pretty well qualified for that, or so I'm led to believe..

but just indiscriminately making it available is, yes, a potential Bad Thing in my humble opinion. But i agree that the policy of having it for free if necessary is certainly in the right direction.