The Prime Minister (Mr Tony Blair) has intervened in Department of Health proposals to increase the availability of hormonal emergency contraception, which include making the treatment available from community pharmacies (our Lobby correspondent writes).
Whitehall sources confirmed on December 1 that Mr Blair had expressed concern that emergency contraception could be used in place of conventional forms of contraception. He has passed on to the Department of Health representations from pro-life groups.
The Government is pressing ahead with its plan to allow emergency contraception to be made available at pharmacies as part of its strategy to reduce unwanted pregnancies.
Under the proposals, pharmacists will be given a list of questions that they must ask a customer before providing emergency contraception. The questions will cover ways of identifying people at medical risk or in need of counselling. Pharmacists who have moral or religious objections to contraception will be given a conscience clause.
The Department of Health is consulting family planning groups and pharmacists about how the new scheme will operate.
A source said: "This is a sensitive area, but we are looking seriously at ways of widening availability through pharmacies."