By Kim Rahn
Morning-after pills will become available without a prescription, while birth control pills will require a visit to the doctor.
The Korea Food and Drug Administration (KFDA) announced Thursday a re-categorization plan for medicines, including contraceptives.
The plan arrives 44 years after birth control pills were introduced in Korea. The recent categorization results from long debate as some doctors’ groups claimed it will spawn health problems, and religious groups denounced it for ethical reasons.
According to the new system, emergency contraceptives will be available over the counter at a pharmacy. At the same time, birth control pills, which used to be non-prescription, will require a prescription.
Birth control pills are usually taken regularly for a long period. Women take a pill every day for 21 days followed by seven days without. The morning-after pill is taken within 72 hours after unprotected intercourse.
“The nation first categorized birth control pills as non-prescription because it was promoting birth control. But women taking them need regular checkups and doctors’ direction because the pills have side effects such as thrombosis, especially when taken with other drugs. They also affect hormone levels,” a KFDA official said.
He added such pills are prescription medicine in many advanced nations.
There are 11 kinds of birth control pill brands in Korea, with nine of them being subject to the change at this time.
But the authorities will make emergency contraceptives OTC medicines, saying they have fewer side effects than birth control pills and are taken only once. There are 11 brands of morning-after pills.
“The most common side effect of emergency contraceptives is nausea and it usually disappears within 48 hours. Such pills are OTC drugs in advanced nations. We’ll prepare measures to prevent misuse of morning-after pills, such as minors having access only through prescription,” the official said.
Regarding the opinion that emergency contraceptives are abortive drugs, he said, “The pills control ovulation and are not effective after an egg is already fertilized, so they are not abortive drugs.”
Both doctors and pharmacists were unhappy with the KFDA’s decision.
The Korean Pharmaceutical Association showed displeasure on the conversion of birth control pills into prescription medicine.
“Birth control pills have been used for 50 years around the world, so their safety and efficacy has been proven. By requiring a doctor’s prescription, women taking the pills will have to pay 4.4-5.3 times more in medical fees,” the association said in a statement.
But it welcomed OTC morning-after pills.
In contrast, the Korean Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists responded with the opposite stance.
“Countries permitting OTC morning-after pills didn’t see a reduction in abortion rates. Misuse of such pills also damages a woman’s reproductive functions and easy access to those pills can encourage an irresponsible sexual culture,” the group said in a statement issued together with the Korean Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
Religious circles are getting involved in the dispute. The Catholic Diocese of Cheongju said making morning-after pills available without a prescription will expand a “culture of death.” It said it will call for the KFDA head Lee Hee-sung to resign.
The KFDA said public opinion on the issue will be collected before the plan is finalized in July.