Now That The Morning After Pill Is Available In Spain Without A Prescription, Some Worry Everyone’s Going To Be Out Sexing And Baby Killing

Today marks the first day that the morning after pill is available without a prescription - regardless of age and without the need for parental consent - throughout Spain. The decision has, predictably, prompted outrage from the Catholic Church and from the country’s conservative groups. Some fear that making the pill available without a visit to a doctor or family planning clinic - as was previously required - might encourage some women to abuse the pill by using it as a substitute for forms of contraception like condoms or the birth control pill. 

The fear, however, is more than your run-of-the-mill sex shaming and fear-mongering. Back in 2006, reports out of Spain recorded abuse of morning after pills throughout high schools in Galicia, even despite users needing to consult with a health care professional before obtaining the pill. 

This abuse was based on a lack of proper documentation as well as the attitude among young, sexually-active couples that the morning after pill could be used as something other than an emergency contraceptive: 

Isidro Lago, secretary of the Galician Council of Medical Schools, told [La Opinion de la Coruña] that there has been an increase in the number of young people who are habitually coming to health centers, sometimes several times a month, to request the morning-after pill.

Government-run health centers in the region offer the drug free of charge.  Doctors are supposed to record each prescription in the patient’s file, but this is not happening at emergency clinics where, according to Lagos, “doctors only have around two minutes to spend with each patient, and records of most clinic visits are not computerized.”

Spanish pharmacists interviewed about the pill’s new availability said they were worried about how young people might view the pill, considering many seemed to forgo using condoms. 

Spain’s Health Minister, Trinidad Jimenez, stressed that the new law was created in an effort to prevent unwanted pregnancies and abortions:

It is an emergency method of contraception, not to be used except in emergencies. We don’t want it to become another means of contraception.

The pills will be available over-the-counter for less than 20 Euros. 

Los chavales van a comprar ahora la píldora por costumbre [ABC.es]