Sales of the Morning After Pill – an abortifacient – have soared
threefold to 13 per day or almost 5,000 per year, according to The Irish Daily
Mail.

The increase is the result of permitting pharmacists to sell
the drug over the counter without a doctor’s prescription and because its price
has been cut from €50 to €15.

Dr John Lambert, who treats patients with sexually
transmitted diseases, told the Mail, that the increase was a sign the country
is “becoming more liberated” as sexual morals change.

However, he warned: “Women are engaging in more risky sex,
having intercourse when drunk and then thinking of the consequences.”

Dr Liam Twomey, a Fine Gael TD, told the Mail that young
women are not taking into account the risks associated with taking the Morning
After Pill which include blood clotting.

Ireland
has followed the British practice in making purchase of the Morning After Pill
easier and cheaper.

The rationale is that doing so will reduce the abortion
rate. However, no study has ever shown that this has happened.

According to one expert, Professor David Paton, easier
availability of the Morning After Pill may be associated with an increase in
the number of STIs as couples engage in unprotected sex knowing they can use the
Morning After Pill as a ‘back-up’.

The number of Irish women going to the UK
for abortions has fallen since the Morning After Pill was made more easily
available here.

However, the numbers had also fallen in previous years.

Dr Twomey also told The Irish Daily Mail: “Women, in
particular young women, are not taking into account the health risks from the
Morning After Pill. Emergency contraception is no substitution for condoms –
and we are seeing a high increase in sexual diseases”.