A survey carried out by the Irish Pharmacy Union (IPU) shows that more than two over-the- counter requests are made every week in pharmacies for the Morning-After-Pill (MAP), also called ‘emergency contraception’ .

The survey, published yesterday at the IPU National Pharmacy Conference in Kilkenny, suggests that 85pc of pharmacists have been asked for the medication which can act as an abortifacient.

There are 1,500 pharmacies in the country. If 85 percent of these sell 2.4 MAPs per week, this would amount to almost 160,000 in a year

The IPU said average weekly requests, at 2.4 per pharmacy, was in line with expectations.

“It demonstrates that there is a need for this kind of service and, clearly, pharmacists are more accessible than GPs,” an IPU spokesperson said last night.

Ordinary contraception is still available only by prescription.

The IPU’s survey of 200 of its members, also found that the average age of those requesting the medication was 23.

While the age of those requesting the emergency contraceptive pill ranged from 16 to 40, the most common age was between 20 and 25 years.

The Morning-After-Pill NorLevo became available over the counter from pharmacies throughout the country following a decision last February by the Irish Medicines Board.

It was claimed at the time by Dr Catriona Henchion, Medical Director of The Irish Family Planning Association, that the increased availability of the MAP would reduce teenage pregnancies.

However, Professor David Paton of Nottingham University said there was no evidence that making the MAP more easily available reduces the rate of unplanned pregnancy.

Professor Paton said: “The claim that providing access to Emergency Birth Control without prescription will lead to fewer unwanted pregnancies is completely without foundation.

“Every single piece of peer-reviewed research on this subject to date has found no evidence that easier access to EBC leads to lower rates of unwanted pregnancies, abortions or teenage pregnancies.

“This research is extensive, publicly available and the conclusions are accepted by those in favour and against the principle of EBC. Given this, it is hard to understand why policy makers would make such ill-informed claims.”

Professor Paton continued: “Even more worryingly, the most recent research suggests that easier access to EBC may lead to higher rates of sexually transmitted infections.”

This claim is based on a new study by Professor Paton and colleague Sourafel Girma published in the Journal of Health Economics called ‘The impact of emergency birth control on teen pregnancy and STIs’.