Online morning after pill service suspended

Will Knight ZDNet.co.uk

Published: 29 Jan 2001 17:46 GMT

Superdrug suspended its controversial online service selling the "morning after" contraception pill just a few hours after it went live Friday.

The company says it suspended the service after consultation with the Department of Health and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society. These organisations were concerned pharmacists would not be unable to give customers adequate contraception advice via the Internet service.

Superdrug became the first UK pharmacist to sell Levonelle online just weeks after the Government decided to allow the drug to be sold over the counter. The easy-to-use online contraception service was controversial, as some believed easy access to the morning after pill might promote promiscuity.

Just a day before Superdrug began its service, the House of Lords decided to hold a vote to decide whether to block the sale of the morning after pill over the counter.

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