KEY POINTS:
Auckland women are only a few months away from being able to go to their pharmacist and get free, unlimited access to the morning-after pill.
The Auckland District Health Board decided at a board meeting yesterday to support the scheme, detailed in the Herald on Tuesday.
Any woman, of any age, will be able to make use of the $300,000 scheme during its trial period.
The pills will be available to whoever has a need, and will not be restricted to limited numbers for each woman.
Women will be asked to provide some personal details when they receive the free pill from their pharmacist. Those details will be used to determine the success of the pilot scheme, and will not be placed on medical records.
After discussing options with anyone asking for the pill, a pharmacist may choose to refer her to a family doctor, rather than give the pill.
But there is no safeguard stopping a woman from trying the next pharmacist, or giving a false name or false details about the last time they took the pill.
How long the trial will last depends on how quickly the budget is spent, but it is expected to be about a year.
The pilot will then be evaluated to see whether providing the pill free through pharmacies should become a long-term policy.
Women obtaining the pill will also be provided with a free packet of condoms, and a pamphlet advising them on other methods and suppliers of contraception.
Also available will be information about where to seek help for sexually transmitted infections and what do to if the sex was not consensual.
Until now, women have been able to get the pill free from a family planning clinic, Auckland Regional Sexual Health Services or, if they were under 18, via the ProCare Network.
But the Auckland District Health Board's chief planning and funding officer, Denis Jury, said women often turned to their local pharmacy first to receive the morning-after pill.
If they couldn't afford to pay for the pill, they tended to be reluctant to go to another health provider, he said.
Removing that financial barrier at pharmacies would therefore make the pill more accessible to those in need, and help people deal with the realities of having unprotected sex, he said.
It was no secret New Zealand had a higher rate of teenage pregnancies than many other developed countries, and it appeared that the problem was particularly magnified in Auckland.
The scheme was aimed at addressing that, Dr Jury said.
HOW SYSTEM WILL WORK
* Pharmacists will ask girls or women questions, including on general health and previous use of emergency contraception.
* Pharmacist may then choose to give the pill or refer the client to their family doctor.
* There are no safeguards to stopping women trying the next pharmacist, or giving false details.
