UK – Morning‑after pill now free at your local pharmacy – what you need to know

August 10, 2026
Dipa Kamdar, Associate Professor in Pharmacy Practice, Kingston University

Almost 305,000 doses of the morning-after pill were provided free of charge in England’s high street pharmacies in the first five months of the new contraception service, according to new NHS data (October 2025 to March 2026). This figure marks one of the biggest changes in access to emergency contraception in decades, putting a free morning-after pill within easier reach of millions of women.

The change is straightforward: women can now walk into most high street pharmacies and get the morning-after pill free of charge after a short, private consultation with a pharmacist or trained pharmacy technician. It removes the need to book a GP appointment, visit a sexual health clinic or wait for an appointment.

Continued; https://theconversation.com/morning-after-pill-now-free-at-your-local-pharmacy-what-you-need-to-know-288668

10.08.2026

EllaOne

emergency contraception

Levonelle

levonorgestrel

morning after pill

NHS Pharmacy Contraception Service

over the counter emergency contraception

Abortion Rates Continue to Climb as Telehealth Reshapes Post-Dobbs America

Abortion bans have not reduced demand for abortion, according to new #WeCount data, while telehealth has transformed how many patients obtain care.

6/17/2026
by Carrie N. Baker

Four years after the Supreme Court handed states the power to ban abortion, a striking paradox has emerged: Abortion rates are rising.

Since Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022, the number of abortions in the U.S. has increased over 20 percent, according to the Society of Family Planning’s latest #WeCount report, released June 10.

Continued: https://msmagazine.com/2026/06/17/abortion-number-rates-increase-dobbs-pills-telehealth-mifepristone-misoprostol/

Republicans Are Trying to Kill the Abortion Pill. They Don’t Stand a Chance

They can bring all the lawsuits they want, but abortion providers have them beat.

By Christina Cauterucci
May 18, 2026

In 2022, the Supreme Court overturned the right to legal abortion. Since then, one counterintuitive trend has emerged: Even as 19 states have enacted total or near-total abortion bans, the number of abortions provided in the U.S. each year has risen.

The reason is a confluence of advances in medical, logistical, and communication technology. During the first trimester, a pregnancy can be terminated with a series of pills. Those pills can be sent through the mail, and doctors can easily prescribe them on a video call, over the phone, or through digital forms. The expansion of telehealth services during the COVID-19 pandemic offered a way for clinicians to get abortion medication to patients in every state once Roe v. Wade fell, even in places that outlawed abortion.

Continued; https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2026/05/pill-supreme-court-republican-abortion-ruling-legal-mifepristone.html

New Research Finds Potential Alternative to Abortion Pill Mifepristone

The research could further complicate the polarized politics of abortion because the drug in the study is the key ingredient in a pill used for emergency contraception.

By Pam Belluck and Emily Bazelon
Jan. 23, 2025

A new study suggests a possible alternative to the abortion pill mifepristone, a drug that continues to be a target of lawsuits and legislation from abortion opponents.

But the potential substitute could further complicate the politics of reproductive health because it is also the key ingredient in a contraceptive morning-after pill.

Continued: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/23/health/abortion-pill-ella.html