Teenage girls will be allowed to buy the Pill without a GP check-up

The Pill will be available without prescription in two areas of London (posed by model)



Teenagers will be able to buy the Pill over the counter from the chemist for the first time, without the need for a check-up by a GP.



Two areas of London with among the country's highest rates of teenage pregnancy will pilot the scheme next year.

The Pill will initially be available without a prescription only to those above the legal age of consent, but the scheme could be extended later to include those under the age of 16.



Pharmacies across the country will start handing out the Pill if the pilots in Southwark and Lambeth primary care trusts are deemed a success, Pulse magazine reported last night.



The plan was criticised by pro-life groups, which warned that women could be at risk of blood clots because pharmacists would not carry out the same health checks as doctors.



The morning-after pill is already available at pharmacies without direct authorisation from a doctor. But, until now, the Government has held off from allowing chemists to sell the Pill over the counter.



It has changed its mind following fears that women were stopping taking the Pill because they could not get an appointment with their GP to get a repeat prescription.



Last year, Health Minister Lord Darzi insisted 'robust' standards would be put in place to ensure that staff were up to the job of handing out the Pill.



Jo Holmes, head of primary care delivery at Southwark PCT, said: 'We've worked with King's College London to develop a course for pharmacists to offer access to the Pill, which could be used by other PCTs.



'We have six pharmacists who will be able to deliver the service. We expect the service to be fully up and running by June or July.'



Dr Imogen Shaw, a GP who specialises in gynaecology in Finchingfield, Essex, said: 'Teenagers are the ones who find it difficult to access the Pill, so I would imagine they would be the primary cohort to make use of it.'



Although Britain's rate of teenage pregnancies has fallen from the peak years of the late 1990s, it is still the second highest in the Western world after the U.S.



Norman Wells, of the pressure group Family and Youth Concern, said: 'This initiative shows yet again that the Government is more interested in getting young people to use contraception than it is in discouraging them from engaging in sexual activity in the first place.



'There is no evidence that increasing young people's access to contraception results in lower teenage conception rates or reduces abortion rates.'



A Department of Health spokesman said: 'Any woman who receives contraception from a pharmacy without a prescription can still expect a full consultation with a health professional such as a pharmacist or a nurse.



'We want to help reduce the number of unintended pregnancies without undermining patient safety.'

