Emergency contraception cost reduced

By MARTIN JOHNSON

Women's access to emergency contraceptive pills will be improved from next Thursday when the Government subsidises a new form of tablets.

The Family Planning Association predicts the move will reduce the number of abortions and unwanted pregnancies.

An association spokeswoman, Dr Christine Roke, said yesterday that women who wanted emergency contraception were either given pills by their doctor or given a prescription to get a different type from a pharmacy.

The doctor-dispensed pills contained oestrogen and progestogen and cost patients less than a dollar.

The ones from pharmacies, called levonorgestrel, relied on only progestogen, cost patients more than $9, and were taken as two doses of 25 pills at a time.

Government drug funder Pharmac has decided to subsidise a two-dose version of levonorgestrel, called Postinor-2, so women will have to pay only the $3 prescription charge and the doctor's fee.

Dr Roke said Postinor-2 was more effective than the oestrogen-progestogen pill at preventing pregnancy and fewer women taking it experienced nausea.

Family Planning's aim was an "over-the-counter" pill that did not need a prescription.