Russia: Mifepristone EC pills no longer available in pharmacies

ByCristina Puig

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 widely used mifepristone EC products are no longer available in pharmacies.

Read Vyorstka’s full report (in Russian) here, and a summary in English from The Moscow Times here.

Similar Posts

A snapshot in time during COVID-19

ByCristina Puig

May 8, 2020. Last April, the European Parliamentary Forum for Sexual and Reproductive Rights, and the European Network of the International Planned Parenthood Federation, issued Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights during the COVID-19 pandemic. The joint report looks at the pandemic’s impact on access to essential SRHR services, and includes recommendations for decision-makers. With regards to…

Contraception and COVID-19: recommendations from WHO

ByCristina Puig

April 14, 2020. The World Health Organisation (WHO) publishes Contraception/Family planning and COVID-19, a Questions and Answers (Q&A) document that provides short and to the point responses regarding contraception accessibility and use in the current times. Use of emergency contraception (EC), and other self-care methods, is proposed if access to regular methods is disrupted. The…

Ireland: EC pills to be provided free of cost without prescription at the pharmacy, to medical card holders

ByCristina Puig

February 2019. In December 2018 the Sexual Health and Crisis Pregnancy Programme (SHCPP) of the Irish Health Service (HSE), launched a national campaign in partnership with the Irish Pharmacy Union (IPU), with the aim to increase public awareness that EC is available to women directly from a pharmacist up to five days (and not only ” the morning after”)…

Turkey: new resource for EC information

ByCristina Puig

July 2019. DKT Turkey recently launched an emergency contraception (EC) website to inform and educate about this method. The site http://ertesigunyaninda.org, written entirely in Turkish, uses easy-to-understand language to describe how and when to use three different EC methods (UPA and LNG EC pills, and the Cu-IUD). It also directs visitors to a list of longer-term, more sustainable…

Italy and UK: different ways to address pharmacies objecting EC dispensing

ByCristina Puig

September 2021. BBC3 recently reported the case of  two women in the United Kingdom being denied emergency contraception from their local pharmacy, which triggered serious criticism from the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) president: “Pharmacy refusal to provide emergency contraception is ‘completely unacceptable’”, said professor Claire Anderson. In 2017, the RPS updated its own  guidance on EC prescribing. In…