While emergency contraception has been around for several decades, 2013 was a key year in that the Food and Drug Administration removed restrictions to enable sale of these drugs over- the-counter, making them more available for female adolescents to access them. So has that happened? Wilkinson et al. (10.1542/peds.2016-4262) decided to compare data since the restrictions were lifted to prior data compiled in 2012 using a similar study design that involved use of female “mystery callers” posing as 17 year old teenagers in need of emergency contraception (EC).
The callers used standardized scripts to call close to 1000 pharmacies in five US cities. While over 80% had EC available, this number was not increased since 2012.Sadly and more often in low-income neighborhoods, about 8.3% of these pharmacies told the teens on the phone that they could not get the EC “under any circumstances” and again this was unchanged from the prior survey.
When it comes to giving correct info about the EC, only 50% of the time was that information given correctly about EC suggesting that while most pharmacies have EC available over the counter, it is not easy for some teenagers to access it. How much do your teen patients know about EC and how to access it? Where do they learn about EC if not from you? We would love to learn more about whether access is a problem where you practice by sharing a response to our blog, posing a comment to this study on our website or just telling us what you think on our Facebook or Twitter pages.
