Morning-after pill widely available to girls under 16

Published: June 20th, 2015

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- Social

Due to a change in licensing law, ellaOne – a morning after pill that works up to five days after intercourse – is now available to any woman of reproductive age in Europe, including girls under the age of consent.

The NHS already has an existing scheme allowing certain pharmacies to supply girls of less than 16 years of age with morning-after pills such as Levonelle. But now any pharmacy that stocks ellaOne can give it out to any girl who is of reproductive age.

Before providing emergency contraception, pharmacists are supposed to ask underage girls whether they are willing to tell their parents that they have had unprotected sex, or whether they are willing for someone else to tell their parents.

Pharmacists are also meant to use a series of questions to determine whether these girls are ‘Gillick competent’ – in essence, whether they understand what has happened to them and the consequences of taking the morning-after pill.

There are numerous objections to making emergency contraception widely available to younger girls, setting aside objections to emergency contraception itself. Pharmacists may not feel qualified to determine whether a girl may have been coerced into sexual activity, and preventing a pregnancy may obscure the fact that an underage girl is in an abusive situation.

Norman Wells, director of the Family Education Trust, notes further objections to this law change: "There are plenty of health and social reasons against making ellaOne available to minors.

“The availability of the morning-after pill is encouraging some adolescents to engage in casual sex when they might not otherwise have done so, and the supply of emergency birth control to young people is associated with an increase in sexually transmitted infections.”

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Morning-after pill widely available to girls under 16