BMJ  2005;331:271 (30 July), doi:10.1136/bmj.38519.440266.8F (published 11 July 2005)

Primary care

Impact on contraceptive practice of making emergency hormonal contraception available over the counter in Great Britain: repeated cross sectional surveys

¹ Department of Primary Care and Social Medicine, Imperial College Faculty of Medicine, London W6 8RP, ² Office for National Statistics, London SW1V 2QQ

Objective To examine the impact on contraceptive practice of making emergency hormonal contraception available over the counter.

Design Analysis of data on contraceptive practice for women aged 16-49 years in the period 2000-2 from the Omnibus Survey, a multipurpose survey in which around 7600 adults living in private households are interviewed each year.

Setting Private households in Great Britain.

Main outcome measures Use of different types of contraception and rates of unprotected sex.

Results After emergency hormonal contraception was made available over the counter, levels of use of different types of contraception by women aged 16-49 remained similar. No significant change occurred in the proportion of women using emergency hormonal contraception (8.4% in 2000, 7.9% in 2001, 7.2% in 2002) or having unprotected sex. A change did, however, occur in where women obtained emergency hormonal contraception; a smaller proportion of women obtained emergency hormonal contraception from physicians and a greater proportion bought it over the counter. No significant change occurred in the proportion of women using more reliable methods of contraception, such as the oral contraceptive pill, or in the proportion of women using emergency hormonal contraception more than once during a year.

Conclusions Making emergency hormonal contraception available over the counter does not seem to have led to an increase in its use, to an increase in unprotected sex, or to a decrease in the use of more reliable methods of contraception.

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

Relevant Articles

Availability of emergency contraception didn't change women's practice
BMJ 2005 331: 0. [Full Text]

Which drugs should be available over the counter?

Robert R Fenichel
BMJ 2004 329: 182-183. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Improving access to emergency contraception

Mira Harrison-Woolrych, Andrea Duncan, Jeannette Howe, and Conamore Smith
BMJ 2001 322: 186. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

New Zealand doctors resist emergency contraception

Carmel Williams
BMJ 1996 312: 463. [Extract] [Full Text]

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Rowlands, S. (2007). Contraception and abortion. JRSM 100: 465-468 [Full text]  
• Raymond, E. G., Trussell, J., Polis, C. B. (2007). Population Effect of Increased Access to Emergency Contraceptive Pills: A Systematic Review. Obstet Gynecol 109: 181-188 [Abstract] [Full text]  
• Marston, C. (2006). Young women described the benefits of having advance supplies of emergency contraception but emphasised its use as a "last resort" rather than an alternative form of contraception. Evid. Based Nurs. 9: 29-29 [Full text]  
• (2005). OTC Access to EC: No Effect on Contraception Use. JWatch Women's Health 2005: 4-4 [Full text]  

Rapid Responses:

Read all Rapid Responses

abortion rates climb despite OTC morning after pill

Chris Wayte
bmj.com, 31 Jul 2005 [Full text]

The 'golden standard' or the exception

Charles Picavet
bmj.com, 12 Sep 2005 [Full text]