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THE MINISTER FOR Health Simon Harris has announced this morning that those with medical cards will have access to emergency contraception directly from their pharmacies free of charge.
Pharmacists have been supplying emergency contraception to women without a prescription since 2011, but women with medical cards still have to go to their GP if they wish to get the medicine.
Ahead of speaking at the Irish Pharmacy Union (IPU) this morning, Harris said:
“[I'm] announcing this morning that access to emergency contraception directly through the pharmacy will be available on the General Medical Services (GMS) scheme from July.”
All women – regardless of means – should have access to emergency contraception through their pharmacy. This measure will ensure this.
The IPU described the announcement as “very welcome”.
Today’s announcement by Minister Harris means that, from July, community pharmacists will be able to dispense emergency oral contraceptives directly to GMS patients without their having to go to their GP first, or to have to pay for the medicine that they would otherwise be entitled to, free of charge.
Figures indicate that 22% of women who avail of the emergency contraceptive services in pharmacies have a medical card.
Emergency contraceptives, such as Norlevo and ellaOne, can be taken 3-5 days after intercourse to prevent pregnancy.
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Fair play to whoever managed to slip this past the nuns who run everything.
@Neal Ireland Hello.: a bit like the boogeyman they don’t exist anymore, there nearly extinct. what exists is boards of well heeled and expensive suits representing the interest of a dozen 80 year old nuns with one foot in the grave.
@Dáithí Ó Raghallaigh: There’s no boogeyman?
@Neal Ireland Hello.: this change makes sense.
It’s still alarmingly common for GP’s in many parts of the country to refuse to give prescriptions for the pill to women on religious grounds. These GP’s are not always in small towns and villages.
So religion very much still effects women’s access to healthcare.
@Barry Somers: fake news alert. this is simply not true. A gp would lose his licence on ethical grounds
Wait so state funded contraceptives? Something wrong with paying for it yourselves?
@Barry Somers: your comment is completely wrong and so false !
@Shawn, my thoughts exactly. There’s nothing stopping em going into Chemist and putting their hand into the pocket or the pocket of the other half. Are jonnies going to be free on the medical card next? (Maybe they already are.)
@Neal Ireland Hello.: it’s a shame the pharmacies still have women with religious ethos..
The boots in cork, Limerick and one on Grafton st won’t dispense the morning after pill..depending on the pharmacist on shift. And there’s loads more.
Well people who have no medical card have been getting it since 2011 without prescription, I am sure if it was that much of an emergency they would find the money to pay for it
@Dáithí Ó Raghallaigh: the real world is different for some people.
@Tony Daly: your right , the bottle of red is more important.
@Dáithí Ó Raghallaigh: the actual law on all contraception is it is at the discretion of the chemist to give you. They don’t sell the normal pill over the counter because they don’t want to , this cousins the €60 for the gp.
@Celia Ham: sorry miss spell there costing the €60 for gp prescription
@Dáithí Ó Raghallaigh: the bottle of red?
@Tony Daly: When you have no money trying to find €5 can seem like trying to find €500. Especially if you have kids or other priorities like food & bills €30 is a lot to pay for a pill. Glad to see it’s available on the medical card.
Yet the government are still avoiding moving on the 8th ammendment!?!!? Farce
Now that makes sense.
Has anyone informed the Catholic church about this for their blessing ?
@Cathal Keeshan: Or the ProLife camp from which certain campers (the usual suspects) a few years ago were urging people through their group facebook pages to boycott any chemists who dispensed the morning after pill……fortunately to no avail.
@Marie Gunbay: The pill has been available without prescription for the last five years so Catholic Church would have complained then . It’s simply being extended to medical card holders now who previously had to get a prescription from a GP. Don’t be mislead this nothing to do with the church or pro life groups. The morning after pill is freely available and has been for a while.
@Catherine Sims: offering abortion also makes sense. I know two women who took the emergency pill who ended up pregnant anyway.
@Deborah Behan: This isn’t about abortion it’s about contraception. I’m sure there will be another abortion article along shortly though so you won’t have long to wait
@Catherine Sims: Catherine where did I mention the Catholic Church. I am well aware that the pill has been available without prescription for the last number of years. Read my comment again…. I am talking about the fact that IN THE PAST I have read comments/posts on ProLife pages whereby they had asked people to boycott chemists that supplied the morning after pill. Funny that…. because at the time these requests (to boycott chemists) only appeared on Pro Life pages. Of course nothing to do with Yank Defence and the Lie Institute………….tut tut
In fact it is you who is misleading my words in another direction.
@Marie Gunbay: Both you and the original commenter were being replied to and your comment was completely off topic and had nothing to do with the story. The pill has been available for years but not it’s been extended to those with medical cards !!!!
@Deborah Behan: you want the taxpayer to cover abortions as well? I really need one of these medical cards.
@Catherine Sims: You do realise I was talking about the “morning after pill” IN GENERAL regardless of whether it had anything to do with medical cards. Also my comment was in reply to another commenter who mentioned the church. So as for your completely “off topic” remark you need to pull your neck in don’t you Catherine. I obviously hit a nerve !!!!!
@Catherine Sims: To quote your own words “This isn’t about abortion……. it’s about contraception ” so the morning after pill has nothing to do with contraception ? “off topic” yeah right.
. Getting an appointment with a GP when you have a medical card can take up to a week and the person may be outside the 3 to 5 day window so this will eradicate that. I’m betting it was GPs who pushed for this. Because they only get a set fee for medical card patients they like to keep appointments for them to a mininium.
@Catherine Sims: appointments for a GP can take up to a week even without a medical card because the waiting room is full of people WITH medical cards with a little cold or a pain in their finger or some insignificant cough. A €10.00 euro fee would soon sort that abuse out.
@Brendan Hughes: That is utter nonsense . Try getting an appointment with a medical card and you will see !!! I sat with a friend one day who was out sick from work. I rang my GP and was told there was no appointments until the following week. My friend rang straight after me and got an appointment for that afternoon!!! My son collapsed in pain and I rang my GP and the receptionist told me he wasn’t sick enough to warrant an immediate appointment ( yes there are receptionists making medical decisions over the phone too) I had to insist firmly. So what you say is nonsense. There is a clear bias against patients with medical cards as there is only a fixed fee and GPs make no money from them. Ask anyone on a medical card !!!! Also when my daughter had a medical card as a student she never once used it. I rarely use mine and in fact it’s usually only used for sick kids for most people !!!!!
@Brendan Hughes: ?? never had to wait much longer than 30 minutes ? to see doctor just make a few calls that’s it
@Catherine Sims: Or they could just pay the €30 for it and not need any gp visit
@Catherine Sims: Oh come on, how is this an opportunity to bash GP’s? It was an unfair system that is now eradicated and frees up appointments for other people….. is this not a case for a positive comment?
Plentype of women letting lads Cumbria inside them now, knowing the emergency contraception will only cost €2.50, and can be easily obtained.
I hope it doesn’t give way to a rise in sexually transmitted infections.
@James Duffy: ” Letting” ?? Ok because contraception is only the women’s responsibility. 1926 called they want you back asap !!!
@Catherine Sims: wow your thoughts on women are really showing there. How long have you thought of us as dirty sluts?
@Lames : And here I thought that the latest fad was lads taking off their condoms during sex..
@Deborah Behan: You aren’t making sense Deborah as usual .
TL;DR: “If you dont have a job we dont want you having kids!!” – Someone Smart in Government (probably)
Should be free & available to all women without prescription
I’m very sure that there are many other medicines that should come before this on the Scheme. We have ill children and adults that need lifesaving intervention and they are reluctant to pay for that. I think the Minister need to look again.
@Eugene Comaskey: You are talking nonsense !! It’s already on the medical card the scheme for a start but you just needed a prescription for it. Now you don’t !!! Please try to read the article before you comment .
@Catherine Sims: na he just hates women having sex. Probably jealous.
@Eugene Comaskey commented: Avoiding adding to the problem is a good thing then.
@Catherine Sims: Well I’m saying that if it is already on the medical card it should be taken off it. How would that come before Medicine needed to save life that they are refusing to pay for.
@P.J. Nolan: I may be wrong but I think the figure was nearer to €90b , either way the little guy took the hit , while Nama helped the biggest debtors. Ordinary people are still trying to sort out mortgages with their banks.
Forget about cases of rape for a moment, but why should the state pay for this?
I presume this was put in place to stop people on medical cards simply getting the pill and giving it to somebody else…
@Barry Burke: State already pay for it but they needed to waste a gp’s time first to get the prescription when non medical card holders could get it over the counter
@Sandra Turner: I understand that and I support the move, but it shouldnt be free(even if it is now).
I’m just purposing and realistic reason why it would be the Case
@Sandra Turner: you can now have a case where somebody can come into the pharmacy every day and get one. And potentially sell. When if they had to vist a doctor they could purpose alterative methods of protection
@Barry Burke: the state actually gains in this case. If a medical card owner needed a gp to prescribe the pill then we would have to pay for the gp visit. The medication would have been free anyway. Is that what you’re objecting about? Let me ask you this. If men were the ones who could get pregnant would you still be objecting to this?
@Barry Burke: I really don’t follow.
Why should it not be free for medical card holders? I guess we should also stop paying for those people that smoke and then require medicines because of the ill health brought on by that?
I REALLY don’t follow your logic but you do appear to be “ranking” which medicines should be available on the medical card.
@Deborah Behan: I’d actually like to hear Barry’s reasons for why it should NOT be free on the medical card without a prescription and how he determines just which medications should be permitted.
@Barry Burke: Yeah Brrry! There is a real underground market for the morning after pill!!
You cannot seriously think that’s a remotely sensible or likely scenario, do you?
Because if you do you should perhaps speak to a few more women.
@Tricia Golden: I think barry’s point is that he is sick of medical card holders getting more and more free stuff while everyone else has to pay.
Deborah – you do realise that a woman getting pregnant impacts men too??
@Barry Burke: Well Barry isn’t better the baby pays for a pill that costs a few quid than an unwanted baby that could costs hundreds of thousands in a care facility. This is the problem with some conservatives – they know the cost of everything and the value of nothing. Personally think contraceptives should be free to everyone.
@Lisa Dorothy: what price are these pills ?
Is it more likely that it is required after a night on the town or a night sitting in? The former I guess.
@lavbeer: I have no idea when they are needed most but why would that matter? You can get them in some pharmacies for as little as fifteen quid so you can be assured they get it a lot cheaper than that. Again would you prefer to pay for the unwanted baby? Or the abortion?
My point is the that it should be rather free or nominal fee for all it should cost 10/20 for people without MC and free MC.
Although cheaper for the state not to go to the gp. It would prevent people in using the morning after pill as their primary method of contraception.
I would prefer a nominal fee of 2.50 or something like this and that would be the cost for everybody.
So in other words, Irish taxpayers who, for example, have a moral objection to this will be forced to pay for the purchase of the “morning-after-pill” by others.
The money of some will be used to pay for contraception for other people.
Even if one doesn’t object to the use of the morning-after-pill, etc, doesn’t it seem unfair that one is forced by law (through the taxation system) to pay for the lifestyles of others who allow themselves to conceive after consensual sex?
@John Reid: So would you prefer to pay for the unwanted baby instead?
So sick of medical card holders getting everything for free. I was in the doctors last week and the 6people in front of me never paid. I was the only idiot to do so and there was prescription charge on top. Medical card holders should pay full price for this pill
@Allison Smith: Well they might be able to pay for it then. So you may end up for an unwanted baby which will cost a lot more!
@Lisa Dorothy: and we moan about lack of accountability in government …
@Allison Smith: I totally agree with you, rubber is relatively cheap.
That’s a good thing…
@mad_fluffy: yes. Forcing women to become parents because of an accident is not the way society should be headed.
Btw taking the morning after pill is no great feeling. It brings on a day of nauseousness and cramps for those who feel it will just let women off to screw everything. There are far better contraceptives but sometimes they fail.
@Deborah Behan: There are better contraceptives but many young people take chances. It’s a side effect of youth and thinking it will never happen to them. Emergency contraception is a necessity and actually all contraception should be made as freely available as possible and at a low cost as possible in my opinion.
@Deborah Behan: you do realise that men can be forced to be parents as well due to an accident
Why bother with the morning after? Kids are worth so much these days for all those “full time mammies” when their “full time mad b*stards” deadbeat dads leg it
People with medical cards should be sterilized
Excellant news
Deadly, that’s €50 more they can spend on the night before!
@Dáithí Ó Raghallaigh: Thankfully you being sure is not what defines policy and law; practicality, fairness and medical expertise does. Face!
As men think this is great???
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