70% of pharmacies sell morning-after pill, research shows

A research exercise has shown that 70% of Maltese pharmacies sell the morning-after pill.

The exercise, carried out by sister paper Illum, found that, of the 70 pharmacies with whom the newspaper inquired about the availability of the morning-after pill, 49, or 70%, said that they had it available for sale.

Only 21 pharmacies, or 30%, said they didn’t sell or stock the emergency contraceptive, which became available over the counter in December 2016.

Earlier this week, a discussion erupted on the Facebook community Women for Women, which has over 30,000 members, about the fact that women were typically being asked a number of questions before pharmacies provided them with the morning-after pill.

Illum’s research appeared to confirm this, with the majority of pharmacies telling the newspaper that they would only sell the pill if the person buying it answered a few questions or filled in a short questionnaire.

Moreover, all bar one of the pharmacies which sold the pill said that they requested that anyone seeking to buy it provide their ID card first, confirming the complaints of Women for Women’s members about being asked to show identification when trying to purchase medicine.

Most of the pharmacies which did sell the pill did not keep it in stock in any substantial quantities, with a number of the 49 outlets telling the newspaper that they did not have it readily available on that particular day.