Abortion Law Reform Association of New Zealand
27 January 2016 Media Release
ALRANZ Applauds Over-the-Counter ‘Pill’ Sales as a Good Start
Medsafe’s decision to allow limited sales of oral contraceptives without a prescription is a good start that must
eventually lead to unlimited access, the president of the Abortion Law Reform Association of New Zealand (ALRANZ), Terry
Bellamak, said today.
In its decision, posted online on 22 January, the Medicines Classification Committee recommended reclassifying the oral
contraceptives as a ‘restricted medicine’ instead of a ‘prescription medicine’, but rejected unlimited pharmacy sales.
Instead pharmacy sales will be restricted to women who have previously been prescribed an oral contraceptive within the
last 3 years.
“All women deserve to manage their own fertility free of paternalism by the medical establishment,” Ms Bellamak said.
“So while we applaud this step, it’s disappointing that access to women who haven’t already visited their GP is still
being denied.”
Keeping the Pill chained to the prescription pad flies in the face of evidence showing it is one of the safest
medications available, and a hugely popular and effective method of birth control, Ms. Bellamak said. Pharmacy access
without these kinds of restrictions has already been shown to work in New Zealand for emergency contraception, so it
makes no sense not to expand that to the Pill.
Past president of ALRANZ, Dame Margaret Sparrow, said she hoped the success of the new classification would prompt the
committee to eventually widen access further. She said as well as oral contraceptives, women needed better access to
other methods as well.
The Abortion Supervisory Committee (ASC) 2015 report, released in November, showed that more than 54 percent of the
women who had abortions in 2014 were not using any form of contraception.
“The ASC focused on the lack of funding for long-acting reversible methods (known as LARC’s), but ALRANZ believes all
methods need to be much more easily available, including oral contraception,” Dame Margaret said.
To read the Medsafe Committee’s decision, click here:http://www.medsafe.govt.nz/profs/class/mccMin24Nov2015.htm
To read ALRANZ’s submission, click here: https://alranz.files.wordpress.com/2016/01/oc_otc_alranz_submission_2015.pdf
To read Dame Margaret Sparrow’s submission, click here: