Allowing doctors to refuse prescribing the morning-after pill could lead to patients being forced to “shop around” for medical assistance, the Malta College of Family Doctors head said.
Speaking to this newspaper following recommendations by a joint parliamentary committee on the availability of the emergency contraceptive, Pierre Mallia, the organisation’s president, said that while the college had so far refrained from taking a position on the matter, he expressed concern at the recommendation that doctors could act as conscientious objectors on the issue.
“As I said in Parliament, we ought not to have a conflict about the status of the embryo. Rather it is a dispute about whether emergency contraception prevents implantation and if the evidence being forwarded by the European drug agency is that this is not the case, then doctors ought to give it in good faith,” Prof. Mallia said.
He insisted that it would not be prudent for a doctor to go against recommended practice and refuse to prescribe the contraceptive, especially if there were evidence that it would not harm an embryo. He also noted that this would not stand up in a court of law.
On whether the contraceptive should be sold over the counter – another recommendation put forward by the joint committee that has sparked controversy – Prof. Mallia said it would be safer for patients if doctors prescribed the emergency contraceptive.
It is a dispute about whether emergency contraception prevents implantation
“There is an element of risk especially if no one takes a history and performs a relevant examination. It is safer for someone to get a prescription and one has easy access to GPs in Malta,” he went on.
In a statement this morning, the Medical Association of Malta expressed support for the committee’s decision and the recommendation that MAP should only be made available against the prescription of a medical practitioner.
It said that the doctor patient contact often led to independent information and a knowledgeable decision by patients and reduced the risk of harm to patients.
"Patient safety and standard safe medical practice should remain a priority,” MAM said.
The debate on whether the contraceptive should be made available was initiated by the Women’s Rights Foundation in June and came to a head following the committee’s recommendations. The foundation has said it is prepared to take the case further and open a constitutional case to protect women’s rights.
Earlier this week, Medicines Authority chairman Anthony Serracino Inglott, who has previously stated his opposition to the need for a prescription, told the Times of Malta the recommendations would not be ignored but would not bind the authority in its decision.
Those opposing the committee’s decision intend to walk from St George’s Square in Valletta to Parliament on Sunday morning and a petition signed by more than 1,200 people claims the recommendations are rooted “not in a general regard for a woman’s health but a need to control the bodies and lives of women”.