Missed Conception

Hawaii recently became the fifth state to make emergency contraception, also known as the morning-after pill, available directly from pharmacists. This is far from a small regulatory change. It means that next time it's 2 o'clock on a Friday night and the condom breaks, a woman there won't have to wait until the following Monday to find a doctor to write a prescription and then wait to get the prescription filled. She can go directly to her neighborhood pharmacist.

When taken within days after unprotected sex, emergency contraception--higher doses of birth control pills--can dramatically reduce the risk of pregnancy. But the pills should be used within seventy-two hours, and the sooner the better.

Pharmacies are located in every community, and many are open twenty-four hours a day. And cutting out a trip to the doctor means that the pills, at about $25 a dose, will be more accessible to the uninsured. In Washington State, pharmacies dispense more than 1,500 doses of emergency contraception a month. By contrast, very few gynecologists write more than five prescriptions for emergency contraception each year.

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