The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 269 No 7213 p272
31 August 2002

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Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) (www.spuc.org.uk)
Liberal Democrats (www.libdems.org.uk)

Row over Lib Dem emergency hormonal contraception comments

Pharmacist Member of Parliament Sandra Gidley, the Liberal Democrat's shadow health minister, has become embroiled in a row over comments she made about emergency hormonal contraception and sex education.

Mrs Gidley condemned the campaign by the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) to persuade people to boycott supermarket chains that supply emergency hormonal contraception to girls under 16 years old though their instore pharmacies. The campaign has led Tesco to stop supplying EHC to under 16s (PJ, 27 July, p124) resulting in its expulsion from a patient group direction scheme in Manchester (PJ, 24 August, p247). Mrs Gidley said: "Supporters of this campaign appear to support bringing babies that may not be wanted into the world. We need a sensible and practical approach to the rise in teenage pregnancy rates, not ill-judged campaigns such as this." She added that successful sex education schemes run in the Netherlands should be examined for use in the United Kingdom.

In response, SPUC asked whether Mrs Gidley had a vested interest in ensuring that EHC remained available through pharmacies, pointing out that part of her general election expenses last year had been paid for by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society's parliamentary fund.