Interview - AMA President, Dr Bill Glasson, with George Moore, Radio 2UE: Morning after pill - Postinor2

MOORE:      Now, girls who purchase the morning after pill to prevent unwanted pregnancies may soon be forced to see their doctor after the Federal Government announced plans at the weekend to make it a prescription only drug.  'What?'  I hear you say.  The pill has been available over the counter for the past six months, but the Federal Health Minister Tony Abbott is concerned that girls as young as 13 are relying on emergency contraception. 

Now, the President of the Australian Medical Association supports the move, but health groups have warned that it could lead to an increase in unplanned pregnancies and abortion.  On the line we've got the National President of the AMA, Dr Bill Glasson.  Good morning.

GLASSON:  George, good morning to you.

MOORE:      How are you?  This is an incredible about face isn't it?  It was about six months ago we were having this very argument over whether it should or shouldn't be on script, I've got a feeling I may have even spoken to you about it, Bill.

GLASSON:  Exactly George, we did.  Yes.

MOORE:      So what went wrong?

GLASSON:  Well, I mean, I don't think there's anything gone wrong.  I think the reality out there is that what we said at the outset was that the emergency hormonal contraceptive, or the morning after pill should be available full stop.  But obviously, given the fact that often the women say they can't find a doctor on the weekend, and if the female is out in a rural or remote area and they haven't got access to a doctor full stop, they obviously need access to this pill.  But it should be emergency, not just sort of routine, I suppose.

MOORE:      Right, now, is it 24 hours, is it?

GLASSON:  Well actually, you've got about 72 hours, George, from the time you have the unprotected intercourse to when the pill will actually be less effective, so I mean the earlier the better, obviously is ideal.

MOORE:      Yes.  Look, I was just chatting to the girls in the office about this, because they know more about this than I would, of course, and they said, well basically everything like that - everything's an emergency, you know, if they think they might get pregnant, it's an emergency.

GLASSON:  Well, fair enough, I mean all I say is that what we'd like to do, take the pill all right, but in reality try and - we're trying to encourage the women back into the medical model, so they're seen by their doctor either the next day or the next week, or at some stage.  Because we just can't have a system whereby people go off, take this pill, and then have no follow-up, because there's a whole range, particularly with the young teenagers, a whole range of issues around, obviously STDs and the issue about how did the unprotected intercourse occur?  Did you know the person?  Were you drugged, or on alcohol, in other words was the consent issue there?  Did you agree or was there a rape issue involved et cetera? 

So the whole range of issues, but you really need to get back to the doctor and talk to the doctor about it so you can be tested for STDs and obviously talk about some longer-term contraceptive advice. 

So all we're saying is, Okay, dispense it, have it available, but have it on the PBS such that when you pick it up from the pharmacists....

GLASSON:  Exactly.

MOORE:      Now, I saw some figures on the weekend, Bill that said that there was a survey of chemists with this morning after pill, and they did a survey to find out whether they were giving proper consultation.  Remember there was all this talk about consultation, and the survey I saw, I have no idea how accurate it was, said it was only about three out of 10 chemists were actually giving proper consultation to the women.

GLASSON:  Well, that doesn't surprise me George, that was, I suppose, one of the major issues we had at the outset, was that the chemists, as well trained as our pharmacists are, don't get me wrong, they're very well trained and highly skilled, they give you good advice about the drug, how to take it and the side effects, but they're not trained, nor do they have the physical facilities.  They're just sitting behind a counter and you say, "Look, can I have the morning after pill"?  And the chemist says, "Well, by the way, tell me about the unprotected sex and intercourse, and who was the partner ...".  Of course it doesn't work.

MOORE:      No, I could see the chemist being told to mind his own business.

GLASSON:  Well exactly, the chemists don't want to do it, anyway.

MOORE:      Yes, I'm sure.

GLASSON:  ...in reality, and so they'll talk about the drug all right but they can't talk about issues about the unprotected sex and...

MOORE:      Yes.  Now, one of the angles the people who oppose this move would put up, and it's a fairly good point actually, they would say that you take a young girl, perhaps even 13, 14, 15, that's been out having unprotected sex, maybe it's the first time she's ever done it.  The last thing she'd want in the world is her mum to know about it, she is now able to go and get this morning after pill, without her mum finding out.  But if she thought her mother might find out, she'd never tell her mother, there you go, another teenage pregnancy.

GLASSON:  And that's right, and I suppose that's why we've been debating Tony Abbott about this under 16 - to access the under-16s to their Medicare information. We're saying what should happen, Okay, it would be dispensed, well if it's a 13-year old it's probably illegal, by the way, but if it's a consenting age, 16 and above then Okay it'd be dispensed, but we'd like that female to go back to the GP who'd say, "Listen, tell me about the event, have you told your mother"?  "No, I haven't".  "Why not"?  Well then the doctor would normally say, "Listen, I think you should go and talk to your mother about this".  Or the child says - or the teenager says, "Listen, I can't, mum would do X, Y and Z".

Well I mean you've got to I suppose respect that confidentiality, and that's why on the side of this boat we've been saying to Tony Abbott, for goodness sake don't bring in this legislation about the under-16 Medicare card information.  So there's a bit of conflicting information with the young people- -

MOORE:      There is too.  So, this would be seen as an enormous back flip, wouldn't it, by the government to reverse this after such a short time?

GLASSON:  Well it will be, and I think what the government wants to hear is the debate that you and I are having, and those people out there listening are having, about where they should go.  So I think that Tony Abbott will obviously take on board what's being said. 

I think to do a complete back flip would be rather foolish, in the sense of saying listen, women for various reasons do need access to the morning after pill, but what we're saying is for goodness sake, don't trivialise women's health, let's treat a woman in a holistic way, and let's get her back into the medical model, where the doctor and the nurse can actually sit down and go through the issues, and make sure they don't have any long term sexually transmitted disease, and make sure we give proper advice about appropriate contraception.

MOORE:      Okay, good to talk to you.

GLASSON:  Thanks, George. Have a good day.

MOORE:      Thanks, Bill.  That's Dr Bill Glasson, who's the AMA National President.  What do you think about that?  It just seems like perhaps they didn't think it through in the first place, I mean it's only been in place for six months.

Ends