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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To think the morning after pill should be free?

93 replies

angelos02 · 23/03/2015 10:09

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?

OP posts:

OOAOML · 23/03/2015 16:56

I disagree with those saying people would use it repeatedly. I've needed to get it twice and on both occasions felt faint and very nauseous which I understand is how it affects quite a lot of people. I certainly wouldn't go through that as a regular contraceptive method.

ImTakingTheEssence · 23/03/2015 17:06

Ive had it free from asda I went to the pharmacy bit and they took me in a little room and gave me it there. It was less mortifying than going to the doctors where I was asked 50 questions and felt ashamed for asking for it.

DeliciousIrony · 23/03/2015 17:13

If you don't want to use condoms, but are happy to swallow a free pill full of hormones everytime you have sex, wouldn't you just take...er...the pill?

CMOTGilbertBlythe · 23/03/2015 17:14

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

Quote of the month, right there!

soundsystem · 23/03/2015 17:15

You can get it free from some pharmacists but you have to take it in front of them while they frown at you... I've only taken it once but was worth the £25 to avoid the lecture!

Seriouslyffs · 23/03/2015 17:16

Why would a child cost the taxpayer hundreds of thousands?

madamginger · 23/03/2015 17:25

It free from some pharmacies because the nhs reimburse them for the cost of the drug, those that charge £25 aren't authorised by their CCG (what used to be pcts) to supply it on their behalf so charge for it.

Fluffyears · 23/03/2015 17:26

Rubbishrobot many people take it when a condom fails. I always took precautions when I was younger but I had to take MAP twice as once the condom broke and once it came off. So your comment about condoms is not relevant.

Sidge · 23/03/2015 17:28

Just for info, there is also an emergency contraceptive pill called EllaOne that can be taken up to 120 hours (5 days) after unprotected sex.

Another option that many women do not know about it that they can have an IUD (coil) fitted up to 5 days after unprotected sex as well, to reduce the likelihood of an unwanted pregnancy,

Gileswithachainsaw · 23/03/2015 17:29

But sexually active women are probably all feckless idiots, eh

in short I was one of those feckless idiots if I was to be honest. A time i deeply regret and feel sick at the thought at. I've been on the pill twice. I don't get on with it at all. I've ashamed my taken the MAP three or four times as i wasn't having regular sex with a boy friend just ONS.

family planning clinic person was a right bitch in certainly didn't need her to make me feel any more stupid than I already did.

I wish back. then it had been available for purchase and id saved myself the glares.

sadly half the guys were just as feckless as I was too.

not proud of it and would never go back there but I know several people who still have the same stupidity I had. and yes there the same excuses "I dint like the pill" "it made me fat I stopped taking it" " I hate condoms"

I can't take teh pill it screwed up my periods completely I bled constantly so no I can't take them. I'm. stuck with condoms which I hate and irritate me and I never had any nasty effects from the MAP.

thankfully as an adult now I take precautions but that doesn't change the fact that I was one of those feckless idiots you deny exist and I knew many more.

Bluetonic123 · 23/03/2015 17:35

I think it should be free to stop feckless idiots from reproducing because they can't afford £25. Surely anyone can see that that group of people isn't best placed to have a child.

Also, I think a lot of pharmacies give it away for free. I have taken it 3 times and never had to pay and two of them where from chemists.

OfaFrenchMind · 23/03/2015 17:45

....So even an absolute moron cannot evaluate that forking over 25£ is cheaper than going through a pregnancy? Are people actually suggesting than rather than pay 25£, people prefer to have a baby? We really need to stop establishing standards at the lowest common denominator.

Fugghetaboutit · 23/03/2015 17:51

£30 here

HelenaDove · 23/03/2015 17:57

giles you need to read the pill thread on the family planning board. And search for a thread called " Depo Provera Weight Loss/ gain" Its a very real symptom.

DeliciousIrony · 23/03/2015 18:03

I certainly don't deny that feckless idiots exist, but I like to think they are not the majority of adults. Fortunately there are lots of different types of contraception available nowadays, so I stand by the view that most people would choose to explore these rather than rely solely on the MAP, even if it was universally free.

Gileswithachainsaw · 23/03/2015 18:07

I know it's real. I. put on loads of weight on the pill but that wasn't why I stopped taking it

CundtBake · 23/03/2015 18:07

I got it free from my local chemist who done it on the nhs. All I had to do was write my name down and tell them my postcode (so they knew I was local)

It struck me how easy it was. I could have lied about my name and postcode. Yes I think it should be free but perhaps with more accountability if that's the right world?

Littlemonstersrule · 23/03/2015 18:08

I don't think it should be free either, it would be abused. Old enough to have sex, old enough to pay for the MAP when not being sensible.

CundtBake · 23/03/2015 18:21

Sorry I think that's rubbish ^^

There are plenty of adults that can't afford it. I couldn't have afforded it when I had to get it, unless me and my child were going to go without food or heating.

Oh I forgot, poor people aren't allowed to have sex at all

Gileswithachainsaw · 23/03/2015 18:24

I'd have preferred to have paid tbh. sitting in those clinics isn't fun. I realise I was at that point an embarrassing example of the kind of person They had to deal with but still they were awful.

HelenaDove · 23/03/2015 18:56

Sorry Giles i misunderstood

HelenaDove · 23/03/2015 18:58

Im now celibate by choice LittleMonsters. Which is fine by me. While you are clearing up sick and/or thrown food and changing nappies im choosing a new top or a new handbag

DrCoconut · 23/03/2015 20:38

I got it free on prescription from the GP. I'm now 14 weeks pregnant too......

Roomba · 23/03/2015 22:19

I recently got hold of it free, from a local pharmacy that advertised it as such on a big sign in the window. Good job as I did not have £25 at the time. The pharmacist took details of my GP and medical history, etc. I got the impression that the local authority funded it via GPs, iyswim but I may be wrong.

Such a change from when I last had to take it, 20 years ago (burst condom). That was during a bank holiday, so GP surgery was closed as was any family planning clinic. I was advised by an emergency helpline to go to A&E, which I did - taking 3 buses - only to be told that that particular A&E did not stock it and I had to go to the other one in my city. Two more buses later, I waited for four hours in the other A&E before I was taken up to a gynae ward. The doctor there patronised me to death and grilled me on why I was using condoms when they were unreliable. I pointed out that I had just started taking the pill but had been advised to also use condoms for the first week. She then handed me several contraceptive pills to take, which she said was the equivalent of the 'morning after pill'. I checked when I got home and they were the same hormones that I was already taking, so the whole day and well over £25 in bus fares had been wasted, though i still felt grateful to have avoided pregnancy at that stage of my life.

I'm so glad that this is available OTC now, even at such a high cost. Most towns have at least one pharmacy who will prescribe it FOC too - there are at least two in my very small town.

spoonjarjarspoonjar · 23/03/2015 22:39

YADNBU OP.

It should be free. £25 is completely ridiculous. I would love to know how much it costs to produce.

I don't agree with some posters who have suggested making it free would encourage reckless behaviour. I've had to take it twice. Both times were because of accidents using condoms, not because I was careless or didn't bother with contraception. I didn't see it was a form of contraception, for me it was a back up plan in case of a disaster.

It should also be easier to obtain, what some posters have been through to get it is unacceptable.

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