Emergency contraception, also known as the morning after pill or “Plan B”, is available over the counter. This means that you do not need a physician’s note to get it. It also means that health insurance plans generally do not cover it, along with other over-the-counter medicines like those for heartburn or urinary tract infections. The cost of emergency contraception ranges from $50 to $70.
Tag: morning after pill
Emergency Contraception May Not Be Available to All Young Men
Young men often run into difficulties when they attempt to buy the morning-after pill for their partners, a new study suggests.
Europe Assessing if Weight Affects ‘Morning After Pill’ Success
European regulators said on Friday they would assess whether emergency contraceptives, known as the “morning after pill” worked as effectively in women weighing more than 165.34 pounds, and whether the warning labels should be changed.
With FDA Approval, Fight Ends Over Morning-After Pill
The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday approved the emergency contraceptive Plan B One-Step for use without a prescription or age restrictions, effectively ending more than a decade of legal and regulatory wrangling over the controversial morning-after pill.
OTC Morning-After Pill Sales Coming, But Not Yet
Don’t look for the morning-after pill to move next to the condoms on drugstore shelves right away – but after a decade-plus fight, it appears it really will happen. Backed into a corner by a series of court rulings, the Obama administration has agreed to let the Plan B One-Step brand of emergency contraception sell over the counter to anyone of any age.
Court Rules Minors Can Buy Morning After Pill Without Prescription
Emergency contraception known as the “morning-after pill” can be sold over-the-counter to minors, a federal appeals court in New York decided on Wednesday.
Drug Agency Lowers Age for Next Day Birth Control
The Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday that it would make the most widely known morning-after pill available without a prescription to girls and women ages 15 and older, and also make the pill available on drugstore shelves, instead of keeping it locked up behind pharmacy counters.
Legislation Lets Pharmacies Refuse to Sell Plan B Pill
The Missouri legislature is debating whether a pharmacy owner can decide whether or not to sell certain drugs based on his or her personal beliefs. Specifically in question is the drug commonly known as the morning after pill.
German Bishops Agree Catholic Hospitals Can Prescribe Emergency Contraception to Rape Victims
German bishops have agreed that Roman Catholic-run hospitals should be allowed to prescribe the morning-after pill to rape victims to prevent conception.
Teenagers and the Morning-After Pill
When a teenager goes in for a checkup, the pediatrician often asks the parent to step outside so the doctor can talk to the youngster one-on-one about sensitive topics, like whether she is using drugs or is sexually active.
Now the nation’s leading pediatrics organization is encouraging doctors to also talk to teenagers about the morning-after pill — and to send girls home with prescriptions for emergency contraception, just in case.
The recommendation, announced last week by the American Academy of Pediatrics, is the latest salvo in the contentious debate over access to emergency contraception. Ever since the Food and Drug Administration approved levonorgestrel (now sold under the brand name Plan B One Step, and generically as Next Choice), advocates have pushed to make it more easily accessible.
Several medical societies, including those representing gynecologists and pediatricians, favor making emergency contraceptives available over the counter, since the drugs are supposed to be taken within five days of unprotected sex in order to be effective. In 2006, levonorgestrel was made available over-the-counter for women age 18 and older. In 2009, after a legal fight, the age was lowered to 17. Read full article.