英國將免費發放緊急避孕藥
The morning after pill is to be given out free over the phone for the first time, under a scheme to be announced today.
The British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) will encourage women to stock up on the emergency contraceptive over the Christmas period.
They will have to register their details on a website and will be phoned by a nurse for a 15-minute consultation intended to weed out young teenagers and assess suitability.
However, the charity has admitted that under-age girls will almost certainly obtain pills through the scheme by lying to them. Some children “will not be completely honest about their age”， a spokesman said. Under-16s would usually need a prescription to prevent a possible pregnancy in this way.
Andrew Lansley, the Health Secretary, said last night that he would prefer the pills to be issued after a face-to-face consultation but stopped short of saying he would intervene.
Other critics likened the scheme to dialling for a pizza and warned that teenagers would abuse it to obtain the morning after pill without their parents’ knowledge. They said it could fuel promiscuity and encourage unprotected sex, risking a rise in sexually transmitted diseases. BPAS said the service was vital at a time when many surgeries and pharmacies would be closed and because chemists’ shops charged up to £25 for the emergency contraceptive, too expensive for some women.
Some high street pharmacies already offer a similar service for a fee but the BPAS service is understood to be the first not to charge.
Chemists’ have been allowed to sell the morning after pill without a prescription to over-16s since 2001. Last year almost 250,000 doses were issued in England. But recent studies have found that providing the pills has failed to cut rates of conception.
A review published last year by the Cochrane Library concluded that women who received an advance supply of the morning after pill had the same chance of becoming pregnant as those who did not have early access to the contraceptive.根據一項將於今日公佈的計劃，英國將首次通過電話免費提供緊急避孕藥。
英國孕期諮詢服務處將鼓勵女性在聖誕節期間儲備一些緊急避孕藥。
申領者需要在網站註冊詳細信息，護士會通過電話對其進行15分鐘的詢問，以排除青少年，並評定適應性。
但提供藥品的慈善機構承認，未成年少女也能夠向他們撒謊，通過該計劃得到藥品。一位發言人表示，一些孩子“會謊報年齡”。16歲以下的少女通常需要藥方，纔可以以此避孕。
英國衛生大臣安德魯•蘭斯里昨晚表示，他認爲藥品應該通過面對面諮詢的方式發放，但未表示自己會干預此事。
其他批評者將該計劃比作打電話叫披薩外賣，提醒稱未成年人會在父母不知情的情況下，濫用這種方式得到避孕藥。他們表示這會鼓勵性亂交和沒有保護措施的性生活，有可能使性傳播疾病增多。英國孕期諮詢服務處表示，當很多診療室和藥房歇業的時候，這種服務非常重要，而且藥店的緊急避孕藥售價爲25英鎊，對一些女性來說價格過高。
一些商業街上的藥房已開始有償提供類似服務，但英國孕期諮詢服務處的服務首次免費。
自2001年開始，藥劑師被允許向16歲以上的人士出售緊急避孕藥，無需處方。去年，英格蘭出售了近25萬劑藥品。但近期研究發現，提供避孕藥並沒能減少意外懷孕的比例。
考昆圖書館去年發表的一份回顧得出結論稱，能提早得到緊急避孕藥的女性的懷孕機率和無法較早得到藥物的女性相同。
