Poll finds no evidence of morning-after pill abuse

Two years after the government lifted the requirement for a prescription to buy the morning-after pill, data shows that women have not been abusing this emergency contraceptive as some people feared. A survey commissioned by the Spanish Contraception Society (SEC) shows that in one year, only 3.9 percent of women aged 14-50 resorted to the method.

More specifically, 3.48 percent of respondents said they had used the morning-after pill once, while 0.4 used it twice and 0.02 percent three or more times. "The abuse rates are anecdotal," said SEC president Esther de la Viuda, who said the figures are "quite reassuring."

"Women are using the pill sensibly, as they were bound to," added Ezequiel Pérez Campos, president of the Spanish Contraception Foundation.

The survey also showed that 77.7 percent of women who used the pill did so as an emergency measure despite using other contraceptives, mostly prophylactics.

PP promise

In absolute terms, what the figures mean is that around 474,000 women bought over-the-counter morning-after pills in the 12 months before the survey was carried out (between July and September 2010).

The conservative Popular Party has said that if it wins the November 20 general elections, it will make prescriptions necessary again.