NHS: Teenage girls - including under 16s - should be able to stock up on morning after pill the day before

Under the NHS guidelines, teenage girls will be able to stock up on the morning pill – despite fears that the move will increase promiscuity.

16:53 26 March 2014

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) will announce new NHS guidelines allowing women under 25 – including girls under the age of 16 - to obtain the morning-after pill more easily, in advance of having sexual intercourse. This is despite government fears that the move will increase promiscuity.

Josephine Quintavalle, from the pressure group Comment on Reproductive Ethics, said: “I think it is really worrying and deeply unwise. Having a stockpile of the morning-after pill on hand is a licence for unprotected sex, and that puts young women at increased risk of sexually transmitted diseases.”

Roger Goss, from Patient Concern, said: “It seems like a way of promoting promiscuity.”

The new guideline is expected to help in cutting down the numbers of unwanted teenage pregnancy in England. In addition, the move will also make free condoms easily accessible for young men and women at places such as schools, colleges, and youth clubs.