Well Boots has climbed down in a battle it was never going to win against Twitter, the mouthy MP Jess Philips and the abortion providers, BPAS, about giving out the morning-after pill ad lib, and as cheap as chips. But in what way, exactly, was Boots ‘infantilising women’, as Ms Philips had it, by being reluctant to make it as accessible as Nurofen?
It all began when BPAS wrote to Boots’ head pharmacist, Marc Donovan, pointing out that generic versions of the Levonelle brand of emergency hormonal contraception can be bought cheaply by pharmacies and can retail for as little as £5.50 in France. By comparison, Boots charges £26.75 for its own version.
Mr Donovan wrote back to say that if Boots did make the pill cheap as chips it could be ‘accused of incentivising inappropriate use’.
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