Poland’s Health Ministry has introduced a labelling system for pharmacies that can provide women with the morning-after pill without requiring a doctor’s prescription.
The pharmacies are part of a pilot programme that allows pharmacists to prescribe the medication without the involvement of a doctor. The measures were introduced by the government in response to conservative President Andrzej Duda vetoing a bill that would have introduced prescription-free emergency contraception.
Hundreds of pharmacies around the country that are offering the new service will now have a physical marking outside their place of business and will also appear on an interactive map published by the Health Ministry.
Restoring prescription-free access to the morning-after pill was one of the electoral promises made last year by the centrist Civic Coalition (KO), the largest group in the new ruling coalition that took power in December 2023.
In 2017, the previous national-conservative Law and Justice (PiS) government made Poland one of only two EU countries – the other being Hungary – that required a prescription to obtain emergency contraception.
PiS argued that such medication could have side effects and should only be administered under medical supervision. However, women’s rights groups note that the obligation to consult a doctor significantly reduces access to emergency contraception, which must be taken soon after sexual intercourse to be effective.
Under the PiS government, Poland repeatedly ranked as the EU’s worst country for access to contraception in the annual Contraception Policy Atlas published by the European Parliamentary Forum for Sexual and Reproductive Rights.
In January, the new government approved a bill to restore prescription-free access to one specific drug, EllaOne – a brand name for the ulipristal acetate, – which worked by preventing fertilisation if taken shortly after sexual intercourse.
The bill was subsequently approved by the parliament, where the ruling coalition had a majority. However, opponents raised doubts about the fact that the proposed law would make the medication available to those aged 15 and above (Poland’s age of sexual consent).
That resulted in President Andrzej Duda, a PiS ally, vetoing the law in March. He called the morning-after pill a “hormonal bomb” and claimed that “no convincing arguments were made in favour of the over-the-counter availability of contraceptives for women under the age of 18”.
That led the government to turn to what it aptly called “plan B”. The Health Ministry introduced a regulation extending the right to prescribe emergency contraception to pharmacists, meaning women seeking the morning-after pill did not need to go to a doctor.
“”Plan B” is never as perfect as “Plan A”, but the availability of the morning-after pill will be practically universal,” said Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
Based on the regulation, the health minister, in cooperation with the National Health Fund (NFZ), which finances Poland’s public health system, has launched a pilot programme for pharmacies willing to provide the morning-after pill without doctor’s prescription.
The new rules require that pharmacies offer a separate room in which women seeking emergency contraceptives can consult with a pharmacist, who must determine whether dispensing the medication to them is justified and safe.
So far, over 1,050 pharmacies out of the 12,000 active in Poland have submitted applications and signed the contract, reports the Polish Press Agency (PAP).
Last month, the Health Ministry created an interactive map that helped people locate such pharmacies and now a labelling system had been introduced to help pharmacies advertise the fact that they offered the service.
For now, pharmacies can print labels themselves but soon stickers will be sent out to every pharmacy involved in the programme, the NFZ’s Marta Popek has said. (Notes from Poland)