UK: Major pharmacy plans to sell emergency contraception online

Boots has launched a website enabling customers to purchase certain treatments online without the need of a prescription, the Daily Mail reports. 

The chemist says it hopes to expand the service to include most other drugs available in-store - including the emergency contraceptive pill.

Normally, users must see their GP or pharmacist for a consultation before they are given the treatment. Usually sold under the name Levonelle, the emergency contraceptive pill can be bought from pharmacies for £25. But if it is made available over the internet, they will need only to fill in an online form and make a payment for the contraceptive to be delivered by post the next day, the Daily Mail reports.

The emergency contraceptive pill is already available online from some sources including Lloyds Pharmacy. The BPAS service bpasbypost offers a range of online doctor services including prescriptions for the pill, prescriptions for the emergency contraceptive pill, testing for STIs, treatment for STIs, free online assessments into the likely cause of male impotence, and impotence treatment by post. bpasbypost is run by the online medical service DrThom, which is regulated and registered with the Healthcare Commission to manage patients online.

The Boots Prescriptions Direct website enables customers to buy certain treatments such as anti-malarials, hair loss treatments and drugs to help quit smoking without the need of a prescription, the Daily Mail reports.

The chemist’s professional standards director, Paul Bennett, said: ‘We’re expecting this service will be expanded to include emergency hormonal contraceptives - the morning after pill. The opportunity to expand certainly exists. It is a very exciting development.’

Peter Saunders, chief executive of the Christian Medical Fellowship, said:

‘The danger is that the morning after pill would be easily available to young girls without them seeing a doctor. This would encourage them to think of it as a safety mechanism and this may well promote greater promiscuity. There is also still the risk of pregnancy - as it isn’t always effective. And there is the concern that young girls entering a sexual relationship too early will suffer emotionally when it breaks down. It’s putting company profits before women’s health.’

Boots sells the morning after pill on the internet: Outcry at plan that could let under-16s ‘stock up’ without seeing a GP. Daily Mail, 13 August 2010