"Expanding knowledge and access
to emergency contraception"
"Expanding knowledge and access to emergency contraception in Europe"
October 2025 — Last September, the World Health Organization (WHO) published the 24th Model List of Essential Medicines (EML). Levonorgestrel (LNG) emergency contraceptive pills (ECPs) have been included in the EML since 1999, and ulipristal acetate (UPA) ECPs since 2017, underscoring their continued importance in ensuring access to safe and effective reproductive health options. Essential…
October 2025. Today, ASKA Pharmaceutical, the marketing authorization holder of Japan’s only emergency contraceptive pill (ECP), announced it has received official approval to make the product available over the counter (OTC). This means people in Japan will soon be able to obtain emergency contraception directly from pharmacies without a prescription. This marks a historic milestone…
October 9, 2025 – The European Consortium for Emergency Contraception (ECEC) has issued a statement expressing full support for Dr. Jarosław Górnicki, a Polish physician under review by the Ministry of Health and the Medical Council for prescribing emergency contraceptive pills (ECPs) to women in need. Since 2017, when Poland reinstated the prescription requirement for…
October 2005. ECEC is pleased to collaborate with the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) and the International Federation of Abortion and Contraception Professionals (FIAPAC) on the webinar: Expanding mifepristone availability to improve access to medical abortion: three case studies, taking place on October 16 at 14:00 CET. The webinar is an invitation to think about how to…
October 2025. Provision of free-of-charge emergency contraceptive pills through the Pharmacy Contraception Service (PCS) is scheduled to begin in October 2025. The English government announced this measure in April 2025 as part of efforts to ensure equal access to safe and effective contraception across the country. The expansion has been described as “crucial to women’s…
October 2025. The Reproductive Health Supplies Coalition (RHSC) has published the latest Contraceptive Social Marketing Statistics Report, which compiles 2024 sales data on contraceptives and safe abortion supplies from social marketing programs in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) worldwide. A key finding shows rising use of emergency contraceptive pills (ECPs): over 47 million units were…
October 2025. A new position paper in the Journal of Adolescent Health underscores the critical role of emergency contraception (EC) in preventing unintended pregnancies among adolescents and young adults (AYAs). While EC is safe and effective, it remains underused due to barriers such as cost, access, and confidentiality. The authors call for youth-centered strategies to…
September 2025 (updated October 2025). According to local news outlets, Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare has approved the switch of levonorgestrel (LNG) emergency contraceptive pills (ECPs) from prescription to behind-the-counter (BTC) status. This change should be part of the country’s revision of the Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices (PMD) Act, and take effect in…
Septiembre 2025. ECEC acaba de publicar Uso repetido de las píldoras anticonceptivas de emergencia. Resumen de las recomendaciones actuales, sobre el uso repetido de las PAE de levonorgestrel y de acetato de ulipristal. El resumen se basa en las recomendaciones de la Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS) y de la Faculty of Sexual &…
July 2025. In February 2025, an organization in Italy submitted a formal request to reclassify emergency contraceptive pills with ulipristal acetate (UPA). The request cited findings from a proof-of-concept study that explored the potential use of UPA for medical abortion. Since becoming available without prescription in 2015, UPA emergency contraception has played a significant role…
July 2025. In April, ECEC reported on new restrictions affecting the use of mifepristone in Russia, impacting both medical abortion and emergency contraception (EC). Now, the independent Russian media outlet Vyorstka has investigated the real-world availability of mifepristone-based EC pills. After contacting six major pharmacy chains and reviewing online retailers, they found that the two most…
June 2025. The International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) has released a new statement from its International Medical Advisory Panel (IMAP) on recent advances in emergency contraception (EC). The statement reviews emerging data on several EC-related topics and offers key recommendations to improve access. These include: The full statement is available here in English, Spanish, French,…
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