UK: Morning after pill courier service launched

This is how it should be:

 

www.telegraph.co.uk/health/women_shealth/9207707/Morning-after-pill-courier-service-launched.html

Women will soon be able to get the morning after pill delivered by courier to their home or office.

By Murray Wardrop

7:30AM BST 17 Apr 2012

A new service will allow women to order emergency contraception on the internet, so it arrives within two hours, rather than having to see their GP to obtain the drugs.

Critics argue that it will encourage under age sex by making it too easy to obtain the morning after pill.

For £20, women will be able to order the drugs by filling out an online form through the internet medical practice DrEd.com.

The forms, which ask users to confirm they are aged over 18, will be assessed by doctors before pills are dispatched by courier.

Pills can be delivered within two hours on a normal working day, although it may also be possible for women to order online overnight for delivery the following morning.

Amit Khutti, founder of DrEd, said young girls would be deterred because dates of birth were requested during registration and patients needed a credit card.

He said: “I don’t think this service is going to appeal to minors or encourage under age sex.

“For a start, you need to pay for the service and if you’re young there are a number of places you can already get the morning after pill free.

“Emergency contraception works better the sooner you take it, so having it delivered within two hours will make it more likely to be effective.”

Mr Khutti said that previously the company could only offer emergency contraception in advance online because of problems ensuring it arrived in time to work – it is most effective within 36 hours of having sex.

He said: “It’s not ethical to provide a service that arrives too late.”

The courier service will begin in London this month but will be extended to other cities if it proves successful.

Mr Khutti added: “It will arrive at the office in discreet packaging so women won’t be embarrassed. Socially, some people are still put off by having to answer questions face to face about why they need emergency contraception.”

Norman Wells, from the Family Education Trust, said girls could easily lie about their age to access the pills and it should remain a prescription-only drug.

He said: “Since the morning-after pill was first approved for use in the UK, various schemes have been introduced to make it more widely and more easily available, yet the international research evidence continues to show that making it more readily available has not succeeded in reducing unintended pregnancy and abortion rates.

“Instead, young people in particular have been lulled into a false sense of security, take a more casual attitude to sex, and become exposed to an increased risk of sexually transmitted infections.”

Pharmacies already offer the morning-after pill over the counter for around £25.

In 2010/11 about 120,000 morning after pills were prescribed to reduce the workload of GPs.

The British Pregnancy Advisory Service has an online service which allows women to request emergency contraception and stock up in advance.

They speak to a nurse over the phone before it is delivered free of charge to their home.

Andrew Lansley, the Health Secretary, has previously criticised that scheme, saying he would prefer pills to be issued after a face – to – face consultations with medical professionals.

 

URGENT! Honduras – No Jail Time for Birth Control SIGN PETITION

http://www.avaaz.org/en/no_prison_for_contraception/?fp

Honduras is just days away from approving an extremist law that would put women in prison for using the morning-after pill, even after being raped. But we can stop this law and give women back the chance to prevent unwanted pregnancy. 

Some Congress members agree that this law — which would also jail doctors or anyone who sells the pills — is excessive, but they are bowing to the powerful religious lobby that wrongly claims the morning-after pill constitutes an abortion. The head of the Congress, who wants to run for President of Honduras and cares about his reputation abroad, can stop this. If we pressure him now we can shelve this reactionary law. 

The vote could happen any day now — let’s show Honduras that the world will not stand by as it jails women for preventing pregnancy even after sexual violence. Sign the urgent petition on the right calling on the President of Congress Juan Orlando Hernández to stand up for women’s rights. If we reach 400,000 signatures, local women’s groups will personally deliver our outcry to Hernández.

 

Honduras: Supreme Court Upholds Most Sweeping Ban on Emergency Contraception Anywhere

www.rhrealitycheck.org/article/2012/02/14/honduran-supreme-court-upholds-complete-ban-on-emergency-contraception-0

by Jodi Jacobson, Editor in Chief, RH Reality Check

February 14, 2012 – 12:35pm

The Honduras Supreme Court has cemented the fate of women trying to avoid unintended pregnancy–whether from unprotected sex, contraceptive failure, or rape–by upholding what is currently the strictest ban on emergency contraception in the world. The absolute ban would criminalize the sale, distribution, and use of  the “morning-after pill,” a contraceptive method that prevents pregnancy, by imposing punishment for offenders equal to that of obtaining or performing an abortion, which in Honduras is completely restricted.  Emergency contraception is just that: contraception.

Anti-choice forces have, however, succeeded in confusing the method with an abortifacient despite a wealth of medical studies from around the globe that have shown it to be a safe, effective method of birth control which simply uses a higher dose of the same medication in typical birth control pills, and works by preventing an egg from being fertilized. 

According to the Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR), currently, anyone who performs an abortion in Honduras can be sentenced anywhere from three to 10 years in prison, depending on if the woman consents or if violence and intimidation is a factor. Women who seek an abortion face three to six years in prison. With the court’s decision, simply being caught with an emergency contraceptive pill would be considered an abortion attempt.

These extreme bans on emergency contraception have been widely recognized by international and regional human rights bodies, like the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, as violations of a woman’s ability to exercise her fundamental rights.

The Honduran Congress first passed the ban on EC in 2009, and then-President José Manuel Zelaya vetoed it a month afterward, immediately making the issue a matter for  Supreme Court review. However, following the country’s June 2009 coup d’état, the de facto minister of health issued an administrative regulation in October 2009 banning emergency contraception, despite not yet having a ruling from the Supreme Court that would allow criminal enforcement of the ban. Nearly three years after the ban was vetoed by President Zelaya, today’s ruling now allows the Honduran Congress to impose the previously proposed criminal punishments on any medical professionals who distribute and sell emergency contraception and any woman who uses or attempts to use the medication to prevent an unintended pregnancy.

Not surprisingly, the Catholic Church has been heavily involved in limiting women’s reproductive rights and their options for essential health care.  According to LatinoPoliticsBlog.com, “several prominent members of the de facto government in Honduras are members of the elitist, ultra-conservative Catholic Opus Dei movement, who were upset that ousted President Zelaya vetoed the ban” on emergency contraception.

According to CRR, up to half of sexually-active young women in Honduras, face obstacles to obtaining modern contraceptives — a statistic that is much higher for single women than married women and especially high among adolescent women.  And LatinoPoliticsBlog.com notes that:

Honduras has the highest adolescent birthrate in Central America, and one half of women 20-24 give birth by the age of 20. Moreover, some 70% of the population lives in poverty and 40% of those live in extreme poverty. Early motherhood has been linked to extended poverty, higher infant mortality, and often perpetuates a lower standard of living as mothers have difficulty resuming school and focusing on occupational advancement. The availability of birth control and the morning after pill would help prevent unwanted pregnancies and allow Honduran women the opportunity to gain more education to better position themselves to provide for their families.

Access to emergency contraception can be a critical tool in preventing unwanted pregnancies — especially in countries where regular birth control can be difficult to obtain.  But Women’s health, rights, and agency are not on the agenda of the church or the Honduran government.

“By banning and criminalizing emergency contraception, Honduras is telling the world it would rather imprison the women of its country than provide them with safe and effective birth control,” said Luisa Cabal, director of international legal programs at the Center for Reproductive Rights.

“Today’s decision from the Honduras Supreme Court blatantly disregards women’s fundamental reproductive rights and completely ignores the respected medical opinion of experts around the globe. It will cause significant harm in the lives countless women and doctors across the country.”

The irony of the coup government cracking down on women’s rights, states LatinoPoliticsBlog.com “is that it has sold itself as a defender of freedom.”

It certainly is a paradox for the de facto government to not allow women some privilege in exercising reproductive freedom and basic civil liberties, while presenting itself as democratic and paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to top US lobbyist and PR firms to build them an image that purports to be respectful of the rule of law. Secretary Clinton should seriously explore these rights violations before blessing the results of the upcoming Honduran election.

Freedom, religious freedom, involvement of the Catholic Church hierarchy, anti-choice politicians, conservative legislators… sound familiar?

Follow Jodi Jacobson on Twitter, @jljacobson

 

Ireland: morning-after-pill is now available without a prescription

Good news from Ireland. As reported by Choice Ireland the morning after pill ” NorLevo” is now available without a prescription in pharmacies. The Irish Medicines Board (IMB) decided that the pill “NorLevo” can  be given to women in need over-the-counter.

Commenting, spokesperson Sinéad Ahern said:

“The IMB’s decision should greatly increase Irish women’s ability to obtain access to emergency contraception within the crucial time frame. While we welcomed the step already taken by Boots, the high cost being charged in their pharmacies and their limited number of locations still posed significant obstacles for many women. We hope that those obstacles will now be broken down and that Irish women will have the same access to this safe and effective medication as women in most other European countries.

This is a victory not only in the campaign to prevent crisis pregnancies but for the fundamental right of women to the tools they need to make their own reproductive choices.”