Prescription not required

In the UK a prescription is not required for the morning after pill.

However, with a prescription, you will get it free, without you will have to pay.

Why is the focus on "after"?

The fact is, you still need to get a prescription to actually buy the bloody thing. Taking time out from work. Waiting in a queue for hours. Then justifying to the doctor why you need it is psychologically draining as well as damn inconvenient. That's the main source of hassle! Knowing where your local stockist is is about as useful as having a label on the front of your PC saying "The power button switches off your PC", since the local stockist won't serve you unless you have a prescription.

What would be MORE useful is legislation that allows one to buy the pill in ADVANCE of any accident. The morning-after pill should be in every man and woman's medicine cabinet - especially because time is of the essence, and you can't always get a prescription on the weekend (or if you decided to go abroad and have sex in a country where you don't speak the native language or don't know about health procedures). And yes, men should be able to buy them too - contraception is a shared responsibility.

In countries like South Africa, you can walk into a chemist and buy morning-after pills without the need for a prescription. I wonder why the Western world has not yet caught up with this policy. Why should the prospect of an unwanted pregnancy be less important in Europe than it is in South Africa?

Morning after pill for men...

You take it the morning after and it changes your blood type.

I'll get my coat...