Daily Mail
Women can bulk buy the morning-after pill over the internet from today - but critics claim it will promote promiscuity and encourage risky sex.
Visitors to Lloyds Pharmacy's online store will be able to buy up to three emergency contraceptive tablets without seeing a doctor or pharmacist.
The company says the move will allow women to stockpile the drug at home to use when their normal contraception fails, or after they have had unplanned and unprotected sex.
It insists it will do 'everything it can' to ensure the drug is not sold to girls under 18, but can only ask customers to promise not to pass the pills on to a friend or family member.
Campaigners said the easy availability of emergency contraception would encourage women to have unprotected sex, safe in the knowledge that they could pop a pill from their bathroom cabinet the next day.
Dr Peter Saunders, of the Christian Medical Fellowship, accused Lloyds of putting profits above women's health.
'It's is extraordinary and reckless,' he said. 'If you think there's the option of emergency contraception, it will encourage you to have unprotected sex and that will fuel the epidemic of sexually transmitted diseases.'
The morning-after pill, often sold by the brand name Levonelle, contains a high dose of the hormone progestogen. It has to be taken within 72 hours of unprotected sex, and is most effective within 24 hours.
It is available free from GPs, family planning centres, hospital casualty departments and young people's clinics. It can also be bought from pharmacists without the need for a doctor's prescription.
Under the existing rules, women have to ask for the pill directly from a doctor or pharmacist - an uncomfortable interview that may act as a deterrent to promiscuous behaviour, say critics.
Tory MP Nadine Dorries said the move by Lloyds could increase women's risk of sexually transmitted disease.
'It is creating a more laissez faire attitude to sex because they have a stockpile at home - and that could increase the risks of disease,' she said. 'I am in favour of the morning-after pill as a way of reducing the number of abortions, but I am uneasy about this scheme.'
The pill works by stopping ovulation, preventing fertilisation or by stopping a newly fertilised egg from implanting in the womb. Although doctors
and the courts say the morning-after pill is a form of contraceptive, some pro-life campaigners argue it is a form of early abortion.
Lloyds is the first major pharmacy chain to offer the morning-after pill before women have had unprotected sex. It is selling a single pill for £28, a pack of two for £52 and three for £75. Clare Kerr, head of clinical services, said: 'Time is of the essence with the morningafter pill.
'The treatment is up to 95 per cent effective when taken a day after sex, but that reduces to 85 per cent in the following 24 hours and dips to 58 per cent after 48 hours. Our pharmacists tell us that many women are unaware of the fact that effectiveness reduces.'
When applying for the pill, women fill in a medical questionnaire which is then passed to a GP service for approval. Women have to apply by credit or debit card and the drugs will only be sent to the card holder' address. They have to confirm they are 18 and over, and that the pill is intended for them, but there are no checks.
The online service is the first time a major high street chain has guaranteed that women can buy three pills online.
Labour MP Geraldine Smith said it took Britain closer to the era of abortion on demand. 'I think there's a difference between contraception and the morning-after pill which is abortion in the extremely early stages,' she said. 'If you make it very easy to get hold of these pills then it's something you do without a second thought.'
Rebecca Findlay of the Family Planning Association however welcomed the move.
She said: 'It shouldn't be used as a regular method of contraception, but just as women have headache tablets in case they get a headache, they will have emergency contraception available at home.'
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