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A MORNING-AFTER pill that can be taken up to five days after unprotected sex is now available in Irish pharmacies without a prescription.
Until today, the ellaOne contraceptive had only been available on prescription from a GP.
The pill is also the most effective emergency contraceptive on the market and the Irish Family Planning Association (IFPA) is welcoming its now widespread availability.
IFPA medical director Dr Caitriona Henchion says the change will “increase access and decrease cost for women”.
It’s expected that the ellaOne morning-after pill will retail at pharmacies at about €35.
Customers will need a prescription if they want to purchase it on their medical cards. This will be subject to a fee of €2.50, an issue which has recently been raised by the Irish Pharmacy Union (IPU).
Before today, the only over-the-counter options for women seeking the morning-after pill were Norlevo and Levonelle.
Both these options have been available without prescription since 2011 but are required to be taken within three days of sex to be effective.
All pharmacists wishing to supply ellaOne will have to attend training programmes and must follow a consultation process with the customer before safely supplying it.
The IFPA says it is welcoming today’s change primarily because ellaOne pill has proven to be the most effective.
“The emergency contraceptive pill is a safe and effective way for women and girls to prevent pregnancy when contraception fails, where no contraception was used, or in the case of sexual assault,” according to Dr Henchion.
Any form of emergency contraception is more effective the sooner it is taken after unprotected sex.
Pharmacist and Fine Gael councillor Kate O’Connell says today’s change is a “step-forward for Irish women’s reproductive rights”.
“Sometimes situations arise where no contraception was used, or a woman has been sexually assaulted, and the hours after such an incident are vitally important,” she says.
Both types of pill, ellaOne and the original one, Norlevo, work by preventing or delaying ovulation – they do not cause an abortion, they prevent pregnancy happening in the first place.
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Nice one, still wont be taken by the people who should take it.
Moving along a bit. Price too high for those who might need it the most. Hard to go home and ask Mammy for €35!
No problem in finding the €35 for the shorts and shots tho!
About bløødy time! Should be cheaper, though.
the fundamentalists will be choking on their breakfasts…Happy May Day to all!!
Why is it only available now? Is it a cost thing? Typical Irish make do with something other than best.. Germans wouldn’t put up with this crap. About time irish women are given the “most effective”
Frank, I imagine that the most effective ones contain higher level of medication and as such are controlled substances which need a prescription
I would be of the opinion of seeing if there are any major risks/implications from giving your body a chemical which is relatively new on the market. You cannot have the situation of “shoot first ask questions later” and have massive public distrust in the product.
Exhaustive testing is carried out on these products. Women of child-bearing age understand the level of testing carried out on pharma-products nowadays!
Really, why is Ireland one of the first to take this off prescription only?
What does a product coming off a prescription list have to do with testing? Are you ‘avin’ a laugh?
Well I suppose this is progress but still not enough.
Yourself and Liberté are really singing from the one hymn sheet this morning.
Typical abortion campaigner… nothing is never enough.
A mature country, where women get to decide on what happens to their own bodies! Got a problem with that?
Really Liberté, why does the term “Crisis Pregnancy” exist then? FFS they even named an organisation after it.
An oul fella the likes of yerself! Why do you want to control women’s fertility? Let’s try this one: let women decide for themselves?
Oul fella? Less of the ageism. And if you are really interested in my age, I’m 32.
Get someone else to do your photos, dude!
Should be €2.50 for the tax payer as well,dumb ass kip
Eh, why? I am all for using taxpayers money to treat people medically for conditions they develop through no fault of their own. Clearly, anyone taking this pill made a choice in the first place – barring a very very few exceptions. I would actually take issue with medical card holders being subsidised for this!
Cheaper and more convenient than a trip to the UK for an abortion. The pill should be free to all women of child-bearing age!
Your tax pays for lots of treatment for self inflicted illness. Chemo for lung cancer for lifelong smokers, heart surgery for fat people, livers and dialysis for alcoholics. The morning after pill costs a lot less than any of them. It also costs less than 18 years of child benefit.
The tax on cigarettes Daisy more than caters for the cost of smoking on the Health budget.
Just because you have a medical card does not mean you don’t pay taxes just FYI.
About time
If they are able to dish it out for people with medical cards for €2.50 the price for non medical card holders can be dropped!
The price being set so high is to subsidise the medical card holder – thats the liberal way.
Great news – but the price of approx. €35 and the fact that medical-card holders will still have to go to the GP to get it at the medical card rate is very prohibitive.
Medical card holders don’t have to pay the GP anything for a consultation, all they pay is €2.50 for the whole process.
*whole process – prescription.
Yes, but getting to a GP is often more difficult than getting to a pharmacy.
Tough, they are getting it for free Fiona. While the rest of us have to pay for it.
This particular drug only came onto the Irish market three years ago, yes it is more effective than what is currently available but it also has more potential side effects and can be dangerous if the patient is already pregnant! As a pharmacist I am surprised this has come off prescription so fast (before most other countries) when there are so many other beneficial drugs readily available in most countries, with less complications that we still have to send patients to the doctor for a prescription.
@Joanna
Thankfully, Irish girls and women presenting with fears of having conceived to any pharmacist is treated with professional, understanding and appropriate care!
And there you have it Joanna, in Liberté’s little world – side effects and dangers are trumped by the want to terminate the pregnancy – at all costs. A dangerous frame of mind.
Did you read my last post, Hurler? Knew you were known to go off topic big time in relation to marriage equality. Didn’t realise you missed the mark on all topics! Grow up. Live and let live. You’re lot are on the way out, thankfully!
Do you know what the side effects of pregnancy are?
Every slag in the country will be celebrating with there legs in the air!!
@gormless ghost
And so spake the old, controlling, ultra-conservative ghost of Ireland past!
Turned you down did they? Can’t say I blame the “slags”. You’re such a charmer,eh.
The “most effective” ffs
Would u prefer if it was ineffective?
Yes apologies it was a very flippant remark on a very emotive topic made after very little sleep.
We’re getting there…slowly!
Where is “there” Liberté?
While this development is welcome, it should be seen as an alternative to abortion which I highly suspect where your version of “there” is.
Absolutely! Abortion on demand! Problem with women running their own lives?
And who pray tell will pay for these abortions Liberté?
Who usually pays for medical care in Ireland? The end user!
Incorrect, taxpayer pays.
Woman pay taxes too!
Who said women don’t pay taxes?
…and back to women’s rights to have control over their own bodies!
I have read in reputable medical journals that fertilization can have taken place before these drugs work. Inotherwords they can sometimes be abortifacients rather than emergency contraceptives.
Who cares? Gets rid of the unwanted pregnancy!
Pregnancy medically and legally starts at implantation not fertilization so such medications do not end a pregnancy and so are not abortifacients.
Correct Jan.
Same end result. Implantation usually leads to fertilisation and can result in a unwanted pregnancy! The more options available to women, the better!
Who cares? It’ll be getting rid of a potential burden on the taxpayer
But it won’t cure HIV…
have your say