Emergency call

The left should get behind the campaign for better access to emergency contraception

I’ve recently set up a website campaigning for better access to emergency contraception, also known as the morning after pill. It’s called www.womenarenotstupid.co.uk and links to a petition on the Downing Street website.

At the moment pharmacists will usually only give emergency contraception to the person who needs it and at the point of needing it. So if a woman can’t get to the doctors or pharmacist after unprotected sex, neither can she ask her partner, friend or mother to go for her, and nor can she just go to her bathroom cabinet and use emergency supplies. Guarding emergency contraception in this way suggests that women are not able to work out when they need emergency contraception, and cannot answer a few simple questions to determine whether it is the right course of action.

That is why my campaign is called ‘Women are not stupid’ - I want medical professionals to recognise that women are capable enough to be able to rectify any initial accidents or errors themselves, without having to jump through hoops or throw themselves on the mercy of pharmacist opening hours or being given a doctor’s appointment within the right timescale. This is particularly important as emergency contraception is most effective – 95 percent - when taken immediately after sex, going down to just 58 per cent effective after 72 hours. The better access to emergency contraception there is, the fewer abortions there will be.

So why should the left be particularly concerned with this issue? The answer is threefold. First, current rules on emergency contraception discriminate against poorer sections of society. Since only the woman taking it can purchase it, the rules disproportionately affects women in shift work or who work more than one job, women with multiple caring roles, single working women with kids and women in isolated communities. If there is not a nearby pharmacist open 24 hours a day, or an available doctor’s appointment, or someone to cover childcare, or if leaving work early means forgoing a day’s pay, then it is the poorest sections of society who will not get access to emergency contraception in time and will face the most unwanted pregnancies.

Second, the arguments against better access to emergency contraception almost always come down to morality, with opponents often suggesting that better access would lead to further promiscuity. Not only is this irrelevant - who are we to judge other people’s sex lives - but also completely untrue. Research into women with different levels of access to emergency contraception shows that the group with advance access were no more likely to have unprotected sex than other groups but that when they did they were twice as likely to use emergency contraception.

And third, this isn’t just about contraception, it’s about women’s empowerment more generally. It’s about women taking charge of their own fertility and sexuality, and about taking their own decisions concerning their bodies. It is, as the website says, about women not being stupid, and about being given the tools that allow them not to be. Coming to that, it’s also about men’s empowerment - I want men to be able to buy emergency contraception too, to keep it at their houses so they can say to a woman, if there is an accident with a condom or if both parties got carried away and forgot to use one, here is a way to solve this problem sooner rather than later.

We have a duty as a compassionate society and as people who believe in ensuring equality of opportunity and access, to make sure this applies across everything, from education and jobs right down to the ability to act quickly and rectify any contraceptive mistakes. If the medical profession and pharmacists could provide emergency contraception to women to keep in case they need it, that would be a good first step.

Ellie Levenson

28 Apr 2008 00:00

 

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