MPs have backed calls for the NHS to provide a same-day delivery service for the morning-after pill after a Deliveroo-style pilot was trialled with students during the fresher’s week in Manchester.
The trial, which was the first of its kind in the United Kingdom, delivered emergency contraception to women using a bike courier hours after they completed a brief questionnaire online.
Conservative MP Caroline Nokes, chairman of the Women and Equalities Committee, told a newspaper outlet they all know the morning-after pill works most effectively when it’s taken as quickly as possible. That’s why they should be looking to lower obstacles to access and make it as non-judgemental as possible.
She said she would like to see services like this commissioned by the NHS, which would give people more confidence that they were accessing the pills online from reputable suppliers.
The pilot was launched by the sexual health platform The Lowdown in central Manchester between Tuesday 20 and Friday 30 September and allowed women over the age of 18 to order emergency contraception online via the questionnaire.
Orders placed before 5 pm were delivered to women for free by a bicycle messenger before 9 pm the same evening.
Alice Pelton, founder of The Lowdown said they launched the campaign to raise awareness about the issues surrounding emergency contraception, which no other company has done.
The morning-after pill is offered for free at GP surgeries and sexual health clinics across the United Kingdom, but this option isn’t available on weekends and women are usually questioned by a healthcare professional before receiving the pill.
Emergency contraception can also be purchased from some pharmacies after a consultation, but most only offer next-day delivery or require you to collect in-store.
Ms Pelton said that the morning-after pill is still associated with shame and the usual procedure of getting it can make you feel a tad rubbish.
She said women frequently need to trek long distances and have a public discussion with a pharmacist over the counter about how many sexual partners they’ve had, which can be quite an intense conversation, particularly when you’re a young student in a new city.
Last year, a survey of 2,086 women by the Lowdown discovered that 53 per cent of respondents had encountered difficulties accessing contraception despite local authorities being required to deliver a wide range of services to prevent accidental pregnancies.
But how about men carrying condoms, or is this just too simple for them to do?
Sadly women are browbeaten into believing that sex is sinful, which is an extremely peculiar Victorian perspective. Sex is not immoral but we’ve just been brainwashed by theology, but of course, we don’t want every other woman pregnant because she couldn’t get access to the morning-after pill, nor should a woman be asked a million and one questions as to why she wants it, it’s rather evident why a woman would want it.
Women generally don’t want to be having a discussion about their most private sexual details or relationships over the counter with the pharmacist in public. Of course, the alternative is having unwanted babies, and I believe that the delivery of the morning-after pill is the lesser of the two evils.
Of course, the NHS was created to deal with illness and sickness, not to facilitate sexual promiscuity, but as much as one might whine about it, there are numerous unwanted births that could have been avoided if women just had access to the morning-after pill.
There were multiple abortions in the United Kingdom last year, and spending funds to prevent them from having babies is just an investment.
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 