To feel so angry with Boots re: the MAP

[BunnyCupBows]

I can't believe that in 2017 we are still having to fight to rid the world of sexist and outdated attitudes to women and sex.... Honestly it makes my blood boil when they refused to reduce the price because they believe it would be used 'inappropriately'. Is anyone else boycotting Boots?

Girl I agree we need to address those issues.

But making the MAP expensive is not doing that, is it.

And what about women who are raped.
What about young teenagers who are being abused.
What about rural families who rely on expensive public transport to reach a town with a pharmacist.
What about women who, for reasons of privacy, need to use a pharmacist away from their local area, to avoid gossip.
What about poorer families who will be going without food or electricity because of an accidental contraceptive failure.

What about being a little less judgemental of people who are living in circumstances of which I imagine you know very little.

But if you cannot organise yourself enough to take regular contraception, isn't it best you can just walk in to a chemist and get the MAP? Rather than have to organise an abortion, or end up with a baby and all the requirements for being organised that comes with having a baby? If the only people taking the MAP are those whose lives are so chaotic they can't take regular contraception, that's an argument in favour of making the MAP free.

And I know, Girl, you are not talking about the women we've all mentioned, you're talking about women who use it regularly.

However, Boots's stance affects us all, not only those who use very often.

What about being a little less judgemental of people who are living in circumstances of which I imagine you know very little.

We gave sexually health services with a rigorous assessment. Teenagers at risk of CSE or abuse were given appropriate support.

Many, many girls were accessing us regularly through lack of planning even though they were being offered LTM of contraception.

I am by no means judging I am stating fact - and maybe easy access the MAP allows this attitude - that's all.

Some points that need to be made:

1. Taking the MAP is taking responsibility for yourself. By definition. Not taking responsibility would be waiting to see if you end up with an unwanted pregnancy and then the state having to fund the resulting decision.

1. This absolutely is sexist, because this is a pregnancy prevention tool that is only applicable for women, unlike eg condoms. Yet they apparently don't feel the need to worry about being accused of eg encouraging unwanted pregnancy by not delivering lectures about how LARC works better to condom purchasers.

1. Saying it's available at doctors or online is missing the point entirely. MAP is most effective when taken quickly. GPs are mostly shut at weekends, and purchase online generally means you're not getting it until next day at the earliest. At weekends and on Bank Holidays, which let's face it is when MAP is often needed, a chemist will be the quickest option.

1. You're not free to shop around if there isn't somewhere else open and accessible now. There often isn't. Do we think nobody lives rurally? I live in a city but the one time I've needed it, there was only one pharmacist open within walking distance. I didn't have transport.

1. The markup on MAP is massive. There's a public health implication to this in a way there isn't with, say, shaving foam. This is why MPs have asked pharmacies to reduce the costs, and why Superdrug and others have agreed to do so.

1. The MAP is a horrible giant dose of hormones, but so is pregnancy. If you're at the point where you might have an unwanted pregnancy, it's safer than either an abortion or carrying to term.

So in summary, this is a big deal, it is important, it is sexist and Boots are entirely in the wrong.

I am by no means judging I am stating fact - and maybe easy access the MAP allows this attitude - that's all.

There isn't any actual evidence that people are engaging in unprotected sex more now than before MAP, though. There is evidence that the teenage pregnancy rate has gone down...

There is evidence that the teenage pregnancy rate has gone down

That will change in the next few years with the withdrawal of sevices due to the cuts.

Another day in our brave new world.... what happened to responsibility and morals? Boots tried to stand firm but like most other things can to crumble. Do you believe this makes the world better?

I find your posts very judgemental.

Tell us what you did to understand the circumstances in which the regular users found themselves, and what you did - working withing their circumstances - to help them use the MAP less often.

Also, tell us how the regular users will be helped by making the MAP more expensive.

Finally, I'd like to know why it's OK to make it more expensive for women who are not regular users.

Personally, i think the women accessing the MAP are the same women who would suffer an unwanted pregnancy years ago, or visited a back street abortionist, so i'm happy the MAP is readily available.

Previous post to GirlOnATrainToShite, sorry, left that out.

GirlOnATrainToShite - maybe easy access the MAP allows this attitude

That's not what the evidence shows. From FSRH:

21 Does the Availability of EC Increase Sexual Risk-taking?
The bulk of the available evidence suggests that increased accessibility of oral EC does not increase the frequency of UPSI, the likelihood of sexual risk-taking or the risk of STI and does not make women less likely to use effective contraception.

As mentioned, it is responsible to get the MAP. Does your concern about morals and responsibility extend to the men who are having sex?

I am all for the crumbling of misogynistic attitudes to women, and I hope that the debate about this will encourage Boots to stock the cheaper version of the MAP.

Agree girl, cuts are a real problem. Which of course makes it even more important that MAP can be accessed affordably outside of the NHS. And as I said, the evidence that MAP availability makes teenagers more likely to have unprotected sex just isn't there.

Another day in our brave new world.... what happened to responsibility and morals? Boots tried to stand firm but like most other things can to crumble. Do you believe this makes the world better?

I'm not entirely sure what your point is here. Could you perhaps clarify?

As mentioned, it is responsible to get the MAP. Does your concern about morals and responsibility extend to the men who are having sex?

Nah. That's why we're not seeing the same hand wringing, from Boots or the posters on here, about the downsides of other contraception. If that principle was applied across the board, they'd be faffing over selling condoms because they don't necessarily protect against genital warts.

Another day in our brave new world.... what happened to responsibility and morals? Boots tried to stand firm but like most other things can to crumble. Do you believe this makes the world better

Boots is a RETAILER - not Mary sodding Whitehouse. If the top brass there are so concerned about moral decay, why not just stop selling it altogether? Why is it okay to sell it at a higher price (which, by pure coincidence one assumes) means more profit?

Some idiot at Boots HQ clearly decided the morality argument was preferable to 'We don't want to cut our margins' - and it has backfired massively.

If men carried the huge responsibility of beating children I'd say the same to them.

Another day in our brave new world.... what happened to responsibility and morals? Boots tried to stand firm but like most other things can to crumble. Do you believe this makes the world better?

An early poster on here described herself as pro-life and also distanced herself from this as she did not believe Boots was acting out of any moral sense or because they had received complaints but were using that excuse purely to keep prices up.

Strident pro-lifers are not on the whole a group which elicit much support in the UK so I think Boots thought they might as well take the flak. That was my husband's take on it too.

No mention of boys/men and their responsibilities, Girl?

what happened to responsibility and morals? You mean the responsibility of men to ensure unwanted pregnancies are unlikely? The responsibility of men to ensure they don't rape women?
Or is this your moral compass which you use to judge women who may have had sex? In which case what fucking business is it of yours?

Men bear the responsibility of creating a pregnancy just as much as women do. Women who use the MAP are being responsible. Why are you judging them for being immoral?

The MAP should be freely available and available free to anyone who needs it in my opinion. In the county I live in, it is free to all from a large network of pharmacies, and we work hard to extend the number of pharmacies to give women the choices they deserve. That's surely how it should be?

If they were so pro-life, they wouldn't be flogging the thing in the first place. If you think life begins at conception, it doesn't only begin at conception for foetuses whose parents haven't got £30.

I'm not a supporter of forced birth myself, but if a person or company wants to morally object to emergency contraception and women's bodily agency then they should, you know, actually object. Either you think it's ok to sell a drug that stops fertilised eggs implanting or you don't. Given that they do, the moral arguments don't apply.

Some idiot at Boots HQ clearly decided the morality argument was preferable to 'We don't want to cut our margins' - and it has backfired massively

I think that captures it.

If some women take the MAP becausemail they are unable to organise themselves what business is it of anyone else?

My sex life. My business.
My pubic hair. My business.
My contraception choices. My business.
Other people should keep their heads out of my knickers, my sex life and my uterus.

Also, if you need MAP because you're unable or unwilling to organise yourself, why would it be better for the NHS to have to fund your abortions or antenatal, childbirth and postnatal care instead?

TodaysUser

If men carried the huge responsibility of beating children I'd say the same to them.

typo of the day!