Boots to sell 'morning after' pill over the counter

The chain pharmacy will sell the emergency contraceptive over the counter, without prescriptions, from Wednesday.

PHARMACY CHAIN Boots is to sell the emergency ‘morning after’ contraceptive pill over the counter from Wednesday – the first time that the pill will be made available in Ireland without a prescription.

Until now, the pill was only available by prescription after a consultation with a GP, but the British-owned chain says a direction from a patient group has given it legal clearance to administer the drug without such a consultation.

Instead, Boots’ medical director will now be empowered to instruct non-doctors on administering the drug – effectively meaning that the drug will be available on demand from Wednesday morning.

The decision has been criticised by the Irish College of General Practitioners, which said the over-the-counter service would raise concerns about the ‘quality and continuity’ of care, RTÉ reports.

If they were visiting a GP, women could be offered more advice about contraception and sexually admitted diseases.