News

January 2020. A draft resolution calling for greater access to contraceptives, including emergency contraception, was adopted by the Equality Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) last December. The resolution highlights the key role contraception plays for women’s empowerment, and calls on member and observer states to ensure access to contraception…

December 2019. The first Sexual and Reproductive Rights Observatory report was launched on December 10th in Barcelona. The Observatory monitors the exercise of sexual and reproductive rights in Catalonia, in order to promote and protect them. The section on emergency contraception (EC) reports, among others, the case of a 16-year-old women who was denied her…

December 2019. A draft bill proposing a number of measures to make pregnancy termination services less accessible a was introduced in the Parliament at the end of November, by members of the Slovak National Party. During the discussion new amendments were introduced, among which, reinstating mandatory prescription to buy EC pills. The proposed bill was…

December, 2019. The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologist (RCOG) recommends to reclassify emergency contraception (EC) pills as General Sales List products (so they can be sold straight off the shelf without consultation), as a simple and cost-effective measure to improve women’s access to health care.  This is one of several recommendations made by RCOG in…

October 2019. According to the National Survey on Sexual Health and Contraception among Spanish Youth, promoted by the Spanish Society of Contraception (SEC), 29,7% of young women have ever used emergency contraception (EC) pills. These figures vary when broken down by ages: 14,4% of 16 to 18 years old have ever used EC; 19,9% of…

October 2019. In Spain, LNG EC pills are sold without prescription since 2009, and UPA EC pills since early 2016.  According to the news agency EFE, in this 10-year period, over 7 million units have been sold in the country. According to the General Council of Official Colleges of Pharmacists of Spain, pharmacists have a…

September 2019. In Malta, a women’s on-line discussion forum called for more sensitivity and clear direction for those wanting to buy emergency contraception (EC) pills from pharmacies. A series of articles published in The Times of Malta picked up the story and opened a discussion about the terms in which women obtain EC pills at the pharmacy,…

July 2019. DKT Turkey recently launched an emergency contraception (EC) website to inform and educate about this method. The site http://ertesigunyaninda.org, written entirely in Turkish, uses easy-to-understand language to describe how and when to use three different EC methods (UPA and LNG EC pills, and the Cu-IUD). It also directs visitors to a list of longer-term, more sustainable…

July 2019. Levonorgestel (LNG) and ulipristal acetate (UPA) emergency contraception (EC) pills are registered as prescription-free medical products in most European countries. Does this mean all women in Europe have the same access to EC? Anecdotal data suggests that we don’t: In the United Kingdom, pharmacists’ objection to dispensing EC, based on misinformation, myths or their…