To think the morning after pill should be free?

[angelos02]

Had to get this yesterday. £25! If I had a child this would cost the country hundreds of thousands of pounds in education and health care. Seems a bit daft to charge for a pill?

I don't think thats the point, but if it is, you can just as easily say that 25 pounds is a lot cheaper for YOU than a baby is, so its a good investment.

I just don't see why you think anyone should pay for it other than you.

it's free under 25.

Nothing is "free"!

It's all paid for by taxpayers!

I would love to know what the actual cost of the pill itself is. Pennies? Fucking pharmaceutical bastards>

I'm struggling to see the argument in determining the price of the MAP in terms of future expense to the country.

You buy it because you don't want to get pregnant. Not because you want to protect the taxpayer's burden.

I've paid for it a couple of times, and I'd have paid ten times as much.

Your argument also assumes that women taking the MAP will, in their lifetime, produce at least one fewer child. In my case, that's true. But for most, it's about timing (I suspect). The government doesn't care if you don't have a child now, because the chances are you'll have some already or some in future.

"Why do british people think everything should be free?"

Because contraception is free on NHS, so it's reasonable to wonder why some services are provided differently to others. But I think the answer is that, like condoms, it is available for free. But as a safety net beyond that, you can buy it privately without a doctor's prescription.

A bit like availability of condoms. You can get them from some providers for free, if you attend the right clinics, but if that's not convenient, you buy them.

Just seems daft to charge £25 for a single pill when if I'd gone through with the pregnancy it would cost £100,000's of pounds to the tax payer.

And the cost of a child to you would also be far higher than £25.

That makes sense, Stella, thanks for the explanation. I'm not being rude, I'm genuinely bemused by the attitude I see here, people do seem to get an awful lot for free that in most countries nobody would expect not to pay for. Your taxes are far too low to pay for all the things you get already, no?

it annoys me that men get the responsibilty that women don't when it comes to sex and babies

What?!

I think some Boots pharmacies do It for free or they certainly did a year or two ago. In a local independent there's a poster saying that it's free also.

a long time to go yet as dd only 9 but will make sure my older boys know and dd does when the time comes, as well as hopefully being responsible with regards to contraception, that the MAP is available and if for any reason they need it and can't get it for free then come and ask me and i'll pay for it.

I have had the MAP prescribed by a doctor and it was free. I was slightly surprised but he explained it was contraception. I think the problem is that it is likely that unprotected sex will happen at weekends and it is more difficult than just making an appointment at the doctor within the required time period when it's the weekend.

As PPS have already mentioned, it is free if you go to your GP/family planning clinic/sexual health clinic as it is classed as contraception. All contraception is free from these places, on prescription.

splod I don't know what planet you are living on if you seriously think that women don't bear the brunt of responsibility for pg and children.

No medicine should be £25, that costs pennies to produce. It should be free but people should be discouraged from using it too often - it makes some people feel really ill and isn't 100% guaranteed to work.

" a young girl I know personally got pregnant because she was unable to get the pill (She didn't know sexual health clinics and GP gave them out for free and couldn't afford the £30 charge)."

• really? in this day and age where EVERYTHING is available on the internet?? if shes old enough to have sex, then shes old enough to research where to get/what to do. So she can afford a baby, which will cost a hell of a lot more than £30

Many years ago (1997) I had unexpected (drunken) unprotected sex Friday night. I tried to get the MAP. It was the weekend. Doctors not open. Rang AandE who said they would prescribe it. Got to AandE they refused to prescribe it as they couldn't guarantee I got follow up check up they said. They told me as long as I took the 1st pill within 72 hours all should be ok. Tried to get appointment at doctors Mon morning. Couldn't get one till midday. Visited not my usual doctor who said yes he could prescribe you can take it up to 72 hours but if it failed I had to agree to have a termination as the MAP was likely to harm the baby. Was told the timing of the pill made no difference as long as it was within 72 hours. Took MAP late in the 72 hours. (no charge) 3 weeks later I had horrendous stomach ache which turned out to be embedding pains. I was told by other doctors then that the MAP pill would not affect the baby but the seeds of doubt were sewn. Besides, I was not in any position to have a baby. I had a termination. Which was horrendous. It screwed me up and I don't think I got over it until I had my son 5 years later. I was then told the timing of the pill can very much make a difference to its effectiveness. Yes I'm aware that the MAP pill is not 100% but taking it earlier would have vastly increased the chance of avoiding what happened.
It was bitter sweet news when I saw a while later that the MAP pill was going to be more freely available from chemists etc. I cried and cried.
There was no charge for my morning after pill. I would very very willingly have paid the paltry sum of £25 in order to avoid this.

Sorry. I messed up the end of 1st paragraph but you get the idea.

It is free from pharmacists, if you have a short discussion with the pharmacist in their private room so they prescribe it to you. If you want to buy it over the counter without any questions asked, it's £25.

It certainly should not be £25.

It annoys me that men get the responsibilty that women don't when it comes to sex and babies. In what world is this?!

It is free from pharmacists, if you have a short discussion with the pharmacist in their private room so they prescribe it to you. If you want to buy it over the counter without any questions asked, it's £25.

I don't think all pharmacists can give it free, only ones that have had some sort of training. Pharmacies that do should have some sort of sign up saying the MAP is available free.

It is free from some pharmacies. It's also freely available from family planning clinics, doctors surgeries and some A&E departments.

I have needed the morning after pill previously, I phoned around all of the local pharmacies - most could only offer it if I paid the £25 but I did eventually find one that would offer it for free.

I think if it was free it would be used excessively by people too lazy to bother with contraception. And it wouldn't be good for people's health to have a massive dose of hormones on a regular basis.

Did you try and get a doctor's appointment though, OP? I just ask because most surgeries reserve appointments to be made on the day (as far as I know) so it's always worth checking.

I have had to take MAP several times before, bought it once from a supermarket chemist when I was young and didn't know I could get it for free. The other times I got it from my local NHS walk-in centre as I was at uni and foolishly not registered with a doctor there.

I think GUM clinics and the like probably offer it free too, as others have said. I do agree that £25 is too high.

Massively disagree that "there would be no incentive for people to buy condoms if they could get the MAP free" .
I doubt many people would actually use it as their chosen contraception method, it makes it plain that it is no guarantee of pregnancy prevention and obviously offers no protection against STIs. It also contains strong hormones which can have unpleasant side effects (I remember having a dodgy stomach afterwards) and disrupt your cycle.

But sexually active women are probably all feckless idiots, eh.