Stepping out for grey power - Carvajal Spain

38 SUR IN ENGLISH OCTOBER 2ND TO 8TH 2009
Health&Beauty
Morning-after pill now
availableoverthe
counter at pharmacies
Pharmacists will
have to explain
to women how
to take the pill,
and inform them
of any possible
side effects
ÁNGEL ESCALERA
The morning-after pill is now available
to buy in pharmacies in Spain
without the need for a doctor’s prescription.
Up until this week, the
emergency contraceptive pill had
only been dispensed in health cen-
ON SALE. YOUNG WOMEN ARE THE MAIN USERS OF THE MORNING-AFTER PILL.
tres and hospitals after a consultation
with a doctor. An arrangement
that disuaded many women from
bothering. Women who buy the pill
(which is priced at around 20 euros)
at pharmacies will be advised how
to take it and will also be warned
about its side effects and the risks
associated with unprotected sex.
“The protocol set out by professionals
in the field and the Health
Ministry is satisfactory, but it could
be improved,” says the president of
the Malaga College of Pharmacists,
Javier Tudela. “We are working on
a set of guidelines for Andalucía
and we hope that the recommendations
of pharmacists will be included,”
he explains. One of these
recommendations is that any sale
of the pill should, for safety’s sake,
appear on a woman’s medical records.
Pharmacists also want their
right to refuse to sell the pill to be
defended. According to Tudela, this
could be the case with around one
per cent of pharmacists in Malaga.
They also want the right to be able
to refer any woman who suffers secondary
effects to a doctor.
Figures
According to the Health Department
more than 10,600 emergency
Previously, the pill
was only available
from health centres
or hospitals
New guidelines are
under discussion, but
not all chemists are
happy with them
contraceptive pills were given to
women by doctors in the province
of Malaga last year, and it is
hoped that the free sale of the pill
will help reduce the number of
unwanted pregnancies and abortions.
Figures from the IPF institute
reveal that every 18 minutes
a woman under 20 falls pregnant
in Spain. This translates into
29,096 pregnancies in women of
this age group a year, and 53 per
cent of these end in abortion.
The latest figures from the
Health Department reveal that in
2006 4,500 abortions were carried
out in Malaga, making this the
province with the highest number
of abortions in the whole region
of Andalucía.