Morning-after pill access eased

SPAIN said it plans to make the contraceptive morning-after pill available over the counter in pharmacies without prescription within three months.

Health Minister Trinidad Jimenez said the pill will be sold with no age restrictions. She said it did not constitute a means of aborting pregnancies but should not be regarded as a routine method of contraception.

“It’s an emergency method for dealing with unplanned sexual relations without protection,” she said. Of the 112,000 women who had abortions in Spain in 2007, she said 6,000 were minors.

The move is likely to irk the Catholic Church and Spain’s conservative opposition Popular Party.