Emergency Contraception
PHARMACY ACCESS TO EMERGENCY CONTRACEPTION (EC)Massachusetts explicity allows pharmacists to provide emergency contraception (EC) directly to women without a prescription. A pharmacist may provide EC to a woman in accordance with procedures developed by a practicing physician.
All pharmacists providing EC must first complete an EC training program approved by the commissioner of health.
Mass. Gen. Laws Ann. ch. 94C, § 19A (Enacted 2005).
EMERGENCY CONTRACEPTION (EC) FOR SEXUAL-ASSAULT SURVIVORS
Massachusetts law ensures that sexual-assault survivors receive access to emergency contraception (EC) in hospital emergency rooms. As part of the minimum standards for the examination and treatment of a sexual-assault survivor, a physician or other health-care provider must provide a woman with medically and factually accurate written information about EC, offer her EC, and provide EC to her upon request.
Mass. Gen. Laws Ann. ch. 41, § 97B (Original Statute Enacted 1974; last amended 2005); Mass. Gen. Laws Ann. ch. 111, § 70E (Original Statute Enacted 1979; last amended 2005).
