Morning after drama
IN 2003, Postinor 2, the emergency contraceptive ‘morning after’ pill which had been on the Jamaican market for over 10 years, became available without a doctor’s prescription. The move was made in the hope of making the pill much more accessible and convenient to women who needed the contraceptive after having unprotected sex.
Dr Olivia McDonald, executive director of the NFPB, then lauded this breakthrough which she said was essential in broadening the options of birth control for women. She alluded to days of old when women would devise odd ways and means to prevent pregnancies.
Stressing the reasons why the emergency option needed to be readily available, Dr McDonald said that studies done by the NFPB in 2000 showed that young women were interested in emergency contraception; that 1/3 of pregnancy in teens occurred while in school; and 1/3 of that amount did not go back to school. She also said that intergenerational poverty could be reduced with the easy access of the emergency contraceptive.
The pill was supposed to be made available at pharmacies islandwide, and accessible to women after counselling from the pharmacists. But some pharmacists are reportedly making the process to obtain the pill very difficult.
What’s with the accusing stares and the seeming unwillingness to dispense the drug? What’s with having a customer wait in a corner, feeling embarrassed, because a pharmacist seems to have some moral dilemma about dispensing the drug? Why are some young women made to feel like they’re doing something wrong by asking for the drug? Is it really your business to judge after you’ve determined that there’s no abuse of the drug?
Sure, we acknowledge that the pill is used by some women as regular contraception, which experts have warned against. But what would compel a pharmacist to, after the interview to determine that this is not the case, have an issue with its dispensation?
It smacks of the same dotishness that has made pharmacists refuse to sell condoms to young people, despite a rise in teen pregnancies.
Shouldn’t the aim be to prevent pregnancies in those who feel they are not ready?
And if there’s a moral dilemma, wouldn’t it be better to not sell the product?
