Pharmacists To Offer ‘Morning After’ Pills Three Drugstore Owners Trained To Prescribe The Contraceptives

Three Spokane pharmacy owners plan to offer “morning after” birth control pills to women who have had unprotected sex and want to avoid becoming pregnant.

Owners of Jones Pharmacy at 906 S. Monroe, Platter’s Pharmacy at 400 E. Fifth and jointly owned SuperSave and Owl Pharmacies have received training to prescribe the emergency contraceptives.

The pills, which contain estrogen and progesterone, have been available with a doctor’s prescription as traditional birth control pills since the 1960s.

A year ago, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved them for use in higher doses as “morning after” pills.

For the first time in the country, pharmacists in Washington who undergo a three-hour training session can write prescriptions with a contract approved by a doctor and the state Board of Pharmacy.

The approval process is expected to take about two weeks, said Rod Shafer of the Washington State Pharmacists Association. On the West Side, 50 pharmacists are signed up.

Women seeking the drug must go through a 10- to 15-minute private interview and counseling session with the pharmacist.

Nausea and vomiting are the major side effects of the drug, Shafer said, so pharmacists will offer anti-nausea drugs with the pills.

The pills cost between $25 and $50.

“I feel there’s a real need for this since there are 56,000 unplanned pregnancies here (in Washington) every year,” said Dianne White, co-owner of Platter’s Pharmacy. “We’re trained to educate patients, even though we’re often looked at as counting and pouring. That’s not just it.”

The pills work by preventing the egg and sperm from meeting or by preventing a fertilized egg from attaching to the uterus. Once a fertilized egg has attached to the uterus, the pills will not work.

They are effective only when taken within 72 hours after unprotected sex. They work 75 percent of the time, health officials say.

Donna Hanson, director of Catholic Charities in Spokane, rejected pharmacists’ reasoning that this is an opportunity to make birth control more accessible.

“Incredible opportunity for what? To be irresponsible?” Hanson said.

Because a fertilized egg may be lost, said Jim Anderson, director of Lifeline Ministries in Spokane, it is a form of abortion. He said the pills are a way for doctors to free themselves from the stigma of performing abortions.

No protests are planned at pharmacies, but, Anderson said, “if this is where life is going to be threatened and played out, our people are going to move to that area.”

Planned Parenthood disperses “morning after” pills to about 50 women per month, said health services director Julie Carrick.

“It’s certainly not a first option, but if someone’s had unprotected sex, it’s certainly a good way to prevent a pregnancy,” said John Nugent, president and chief executive officer of Planned Parenthood of Spokane.

The training and pharmacy prescription project are being paid for by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation.

Collaborating on the project are the Washington State Pharmacists Association, Program for Appropriate Technology in Health, University of Washington department of pharmacy, the Washington state Board of Pharmacy and a Seattle public relations firm.

Women can get a list of pharmacies providing the pills by calling 1-888-NOT-2-LATE or visiting the project’s Web site at http://opr.princeton.edu/ec/.

“Morning after” pills are not to be confused with RU-486, the French abortion pill. Since 1988, 200,000 European women have taken RU-486, which effectively ends pregnancy up to seven weeks after conception. It was approved by the FDA as safe in July 1996, but legal challenges have prevented it from being distributed in this country.

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: THE PILLS The “morning after” birth control pills are effective only when taken within 72 hours after unprotected sex. They work 75 percent of the time.