A recent topic that has interested me is the question raised about the 5 day contraceptive pill -AKA ellaOne. I'm sure you may have heard of the 72 hour pill or 'emergency contraceptive' that can be taken up to 3 days after conception, well ellaOne works basically the same apart from (you've guessed it) you can take it up to 5 days later!! I don't understand why anyone would wait that long, it is more effective to take it as soon as possible but I guess it's there just in case.
There has been speculation to whether or not ellaOne should be allowed to be sold over the counter alongside Levonelle. (right now I believe it is only available on prescription) It is being argued that making this emergency contraception more freely available will encourage sexual promiscuity.
In my personal opinion, seeing as the 72 hour pill is available for purchase already, I don't think adding an extra 48 hours will make very much difference. Additionally I can only assume that if ellaOne were to be sold in chemists then it would more than likely be more expensive than that already available making it less desirable.
I think they need to give people some more credit too personally, who would want to pay around £30 on the one contraceptive pill when for the same price, you could avoid the entire problem and buy about thirty condoms for the same price!? It's just common sense really.
Finally, I just feel that as a young adolescent, that denying women the freedom to use this new contraceptive is limiting the rights we have over our own bodies. However I realize that this is not my strongest point as it is up to girls to take the responsibility to ensure that they are using the appropriate contraceptive in the first place. But we are humans all the same, and humans make mistakes, and if such mistakes can be solved, who can deny us the right to fix it?
-I cannot stress enough that I am merely just expressing my own opinion here, I do not wish to offend anybody. I would be sincerely interested to hear anybody else's point of view and encourage you to share it with me!
(It is possible that the ellaOne emergency contraceptive is now available to purchase in local chemists, to find out, I recommend using all mighty, all knowing google!! :P)
