Pharmacists Have No Clue About Contraception

In many places emergency contraception is available over the counter to women, including teenagers, but many pharmacies have no idea what the rules are.

A survey of 943 pharmacies in five American states found that about half gave the wrong information to a 17-year-old woman on the phone about whether or not she could get the medication. Correct answer: she can get it without a prescription.

The wrong information about the age at which the medication can be obtained was given by 44 percent overall, with 50 percent in low-income neighbourhoods and 37 percent in other neighbourhoods. And 23.7 percent of low-income pharmacies said the teenager couldn’t get the meds at all, compared to 14.6 percent in other areas.

It’s absurd that of almost one thousand pharmacies that so many have no clue what the regulations are. This is a major barrier to accessing these important drugs. It’s difficult enough for many grown women to walk into a pharmacy and ask for emergency contraception, but imagine the added problem of a teenager making it to the pharmacy in the first place, being poor and unsure if they can afford it, and then being turned away by an uneducated pharmacist. This is especially disturbing because low-income areas tend to have more teenage pregnancies and need the most help with sex education.

Clearly there needs to be some major re-education of pharmacists. Their job is to dispense drugs so they need to know what the regulations are. This is one important part of preventing unwanted pregnancies and pharmacists are completely irresponsible for not knowing the rules.

It’s no wonder the young people don’t know how to protect themselves if the professionals they are supposed to rely on are just as ignorant. Don’t blame teenage pregnancy on young people’s nonchalance about condoms, blame the adults who aren’t providing education and health services the way they should be.

Contact the author here: mack@morningquickie.com