Israel

Emergency contraception (EC) is available in Israel: LNG EC and UPA EC are sold in local pharmacies, LNG EC is distributed in family planning clinics, and EC is partially reimbursed by the Israeli health care system.

• Sexual & reproductive health background information
• Accessibility & prescription status
• Cost
• Guidelines & common practices
• EC use

Sexual & reproductive health background information

Accessibility & prescription status

In Israel, LNG EC is available behind the counter from pharmacies, which means that EC is available without a prescription but is not on the shelves and needs to be requested in order to purchase. LNG EC is also provided in family planning clinics. UPA EC is also available behind the counter from pharmacies as of January 2017.

Israeli law forbids pharmacists to sell any drugs to anyone less than 16 years of age without a prescription. Anecdotal data, however, suggests that, in practice, most pharmacists do not routinely ask for ID when dispensing EC. In addition, since February 2019 UPA EC can be bought directly form the pharmacy by women 14 and older⁶.

Physicians, nurses, pharmacists, and family planning counselors are able to prescribe or provide LNG EC, while only physicians are authorized to prescribe UPA EC.

Cost

Health care in Israel is universal, and participation in one of the four National Health Insurance Funds is compulsory. The cost of both LNG and UPA EC pills is partially reimbursed to the patient when it is sold with a prescription provided by a doctor affiliated with one of the medical insurance plans. Instead of the full price, the user pays € 3.3 for LNG EC and € 17 for UPA EC. Both LNG EC and UPA EC are also available at a lower cost to the patient when they are purchased from a Health Fund pharmacy versus a private pharmacy or a pharmaceutical chain store. LNG EC is free to the patient in the case of rape when it is provided at a hospital, and for women under 20 years old, the cost of UPA EC is fully reimbursed when it is sold with a prescription.

Guidelines & common practices

Israel has no guidelines that are dedicated exclusively to EC. The four National Health Insurance Funds have dedicated emergency contraception pages on their websites.

Health care providers rarely provide general information about EC during regular consultations and do not usually prescribe EC in advance of need. Health care providers do not require a pregnancy test or a pelvic exam before prescribing EC.

EC use

According to data from 2008, an estimated 230,000 LNG EC pills are sold in Israel annually.⁶

Sources

¹ United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. World Population Prospects: The 2010 Revision. New York, 2011.

² Durex Global Sex Survey Results 2005. Retrieved 20 June 2013, from http://www.durex.com/en-jp/sexualwellbeingsurvey/documents/gss2005result.pdf.

³ United Nations Economic Commission for Europe Statistical Division Database. Mean Age of Women at Birth of First Child by Country and Year. Updated 23 November 2012. Retrieved 19 June 2013, from http://w3.unece.org/pxweb/dialog/varval.asp?ma=04_GEFHAge1stChild_r&path=../database/STAT/30-GE/02-Families_households/&lang=1&ti=Mean+age+of+women+at+birth+of+first+child.

⁴ European health for all database (HFA-DB), World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe. Total fertility rate. Retrieved 18 June 2013, from http://data.euro.who.int/hfadb/.

⁵ United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. World Contraceptive Use 2012. New York, 2012.

⁶ Personal communication, Israeli Society of Contraception representatives.

Last update: May 2023

Previous update: January 2017