A study directed by Dr. Anna Glasier at the University of Edinborough concluded that women may safely use emergency at-home contraception to prevent pregnancy without harmful side effects. The study took place in England and consisted of distributing packets of hormone pills to women to use at home as emergency birth control and was published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
The women who administered the drug at home used the pills properly and experienced no bad effects compared to the control group who went to doctors to get the pills. Last year the FDA approved six brands of birth control pills to be used as morning after pills, but none of these brands have created emergency birth control packages yet. Due to the size of the study, it gave no indication as to whether having emergency pills on hand leads to less unwanted pregnancy. Dr. Phillip Stubblefield wrote an editorial on the study suggesting the pills be made available without prescription to women for home use.
