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Melbourne: Difference between revisions
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===Laws & Social Stigmas=== | ===Laws & Social Stigmas=== | ||
Emergency contraception is legal and obtainable without a prescription. There are no age restrictions and anyone, no matter their sex, can buy them. EC brands like Plan B or Next Choice can be found in public sector clinics, pharmacies and emergency | Emergency contraception is legal and obtainable without a prescription. There are no age restrictions and anyone, no matter their sex, can buy them. EC brands like Plan B or Next Choice can be found in public sector clinics, pharmacies and emergency rooms. The law requires that pharmacists supply EC for therapeutic reasons. This means that, if a pharmacists wants to confirm therapeutic need, he or she may ask questions about medical history, medical issues and any medications that the person is taking before issuing EC. According to the International Consortium for Emergency Contraception, ""While community pharmacists are not required by law to ask specific questions prior to supplying LNG-EC in Australia, questioning may occur in practice. The Pharmaceutical Society of Australia supports increased access for young women with no specific restrictions on third party supply and advanced supply. Access can be limited in rural areas if the only pharmacist in town has a conscientious objection to supplying the LNG-ECP and there is no alternative supplier nearby. There are no legal age restrictions for supplying ECPs, but many pharmacists may prefer to refer women under 16 years of age to a doctor rather than provide it themselves over the counter."<ref>[http://www.cecinfo.org/country-by-country-information/status-availability-database/countries/australia/ Australia: EC Status and Availability]</ref> | ||
There are strict guidelines in Australia, dictated by the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia, regarding how EC should be sold by local chemists. While most pharmacists/chemists follow these guidelines, studies showed that "pharmacists had stronger, more conservative attitudes than overseas pharmacists."<ref>[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21237342 Provision of the emergency contraceptive pill without prescription: attitudes and practices of pharmacists in Australia]</ref> Furthermore, many Australian women report that they don't receive adequate information from pharmacists. As reported by the Conversation in 2015, "...62% of the women we spoke to expressed concern about the lack of privacy. What’s more, many women were confused about this type of pill – some thought it caused an abortion (32%) and others that it would cause defects if they were to fall pregnant later (61%). Only 20% of pharmacists always informed women about how the emergency contraceptive pill worked, while the majority spoke about how long it would remain effective after unprotected sex. Many pharmacists agreed that the pill shouldn’t be supplied if unprotected sex had occurred longer than three days ago."<ref>[https://theconversation.com/note-to-pharmacists-on-how-not-to-sell-the-morning-after-pill-10250 Note to pharmacists on how not to sell the morning-after pill]</ref> | There are strict guidelines in Australia, dictated by the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia, regarding how EC should be sold by local chemists. While most pharmacists/chemists follow these guidelines, studies showed that "pharmacists had stronger, more conservative attitudes than overseas pharmacists."<ref>[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21237342 Provision of the emergency contraceptive pill without prescription: attitudes and practices of pharmacists in Australia]</ref> Furthermore, many Australian women report that they don't receive adequate information from pharmacists. As reported by the Conversation in 2015, "...62% of the women we spoke to expressed concern about the lack of privacy. What’s more, many women were confused about this type of pill – some thought it caused an abortion (32%) and others that it would cause defects if they were to fall pregnant later (61%). Only 20% of pharmacists always informed women about how the emergency contraceptive pill worked, while the majority spoke about how long it would remain effective after unprotected sex. Many pharmacists agreed that the pill shouldn’t be supplied if unprotected sex had occurred longer than three days ago."<ref>[https://theconversation.com/note-to-pharmacists-on-how-not-to-sell-the-morning-after-pill-10250 Note to pharmacists on how not to sell the morning-after pill]</ref> | ||