The Morning After Pill Campaign took place in 2016
The Limerick Feminist Network has started a log of the best pharmacies to get the morning after pill in the Limerick area.*
We have asked the public to get in touch with us and share their experiences getting access to the morning after pill in Limerick. Our aim with this campaign is to empower people with knowledge, help erase the stigma around getting the morning after pill and make it as easy as possible for people to get the morning after pill by giving information about local pharmacies in terms of treatment, privacy and cost. The table below includes all of the information we have received so far, pharmacies are presented alphabetically. If you have information or a story you would like to share please scroll to the bottom of this page for information on what we need and how to get in touch. Thank you to everyone who got in contact with us so far.
| Pharmacy | Address | Was MAP available? | Pharmacist male or female? | Privacy? | Treatment? | Cost | Was the consultation overly invasive? |
| Boots | Retail Park, Childer’s Road | Y | F | Y – room | Treated positively | €45-50 | Treated excellently, not judgemental or preachy, wasn’t required to really give any detail |
| Boots | Retail Park, Childer’s Road | Y | Not given | Not given | Treated positively | Expensive | Staff were friendly |
| Boots | William Street | Y | F | Y – room | Negative experience | Not given | STD test was suggested – felt humiliated and was unnecessary |
| Boots | William Street | Y | F | Y – room | Treated positively | €35 | Chilled, non-judgemental, stress free experience |
| Boots | William Street | Y | F – late 20s | Y – room | Treated positively | €35 | Professional, warm, didn’t ask unnecessary questions, stuck to the facts |
| Castletroy Park | Castletroy Park Business Centre Plassey Road |
Y | Not given | Not given | Treated positively | €20 | Treated very well, required to give very little info, just the basics |
| Dooley’s | 37 Bishop St, Newcastle West | Y | F | Y – room | Treated positively | €17-18 | Same form as above, pharmacist was absolutely lovely, felt very safe |
| MaCabes | Crescent Shopping Centre | Y | F | Y – room | Treated positively | €35 | Pharmacist was lovely and explained every thing perfectly well, had to give date of birth, last period and when they had sex |
| Medicare [Lloyds] | Castletroy Shopping Centre | Y | F | Y – room | Treated positively | €25 | Didn’t ask for any more detail than seemed necessary |
| Medicare [Lloyds] | Castletroy Shopping Centre | Y | F | Y – room | Treated positively | €20 | They asked my weight and address but other than that the pharmacist was a feminist and lovely |
| Medicare [Lloyds] | Castletroy Shopping Centre | Y | F | Y – room | Negative experience | €20 | The pharmacist commented on my apparent ‘unruly’ sex life and made me feel ashamed |
| O’Sullivans | St. Josephs Street | Y | M | Kind of – partition | Mixed | Not given | Sympathetic, but a bit awkward, privacy not good – loud voice, nothing inappropriate |
| O’Sullivans | Sarsfield Street | N | F | Not given | Negative experience | n/a | Was asked when period was due {two weeks} so was told I didn’t need pill the pharmacist left and told the lady on the desk not to sell it |
| O’Sullivans | Sarsfield Street | Y | M | Kind of – partition wall | Treated positively | €22 | He asked about other contraceptives and was a bit preachy but not too bad |
| O’Sullivans | The Park, Lord Edward Street | Y | M | N – used closet | Treated positively | Reasonable | Sympathetic, put at ease and talked quietly |
| Raheen | Courtfields Shopping Centre | Y | M – all male no F available | n/a | Treated positively | €17-18 | Took 5 minutes – Name, date of birth, how long since they had sex, if on contraceptives & weight |
| Scanlons | Castletroy by Chawkes | Y | F | Y – room | Negative experience | €27 | The pharmacist told me that I should not take the pill because ”it’s bad for you” so the information given was inaccurate |
*Disclaimer – this is information was given to us voluntarily from members of the public. In some cases we have been given conflicting reports of pharmacies and the treatment people received, this is due to the individual pharmacists and not the particular pharmacy. We have included all of the information we received to try and best inform anyone who needs access to the morning after pill. Unfortunately, we must note that while we cannot guarantee everyone will have a positive experience in these pharmacies we hope this information will make the whole process easier for people.
For information on where you can best access the morning after pill outside of Limerick check out Re(al)-Productive Health. Re(al)-Productive Health promote full, accessible and unapologetic reproductive health and well being for people in Ireland. You can find there website here.
Please sign and share the following petition:
Re(al) Productive Health are petitioning The Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland in the hopes of ending the conscientious objection to emergency contraception in Ireland.
Currently in Ireland, pharmacists may refuse to provide you with emergency contraception (the ‘morning after pill’) under a ‘conscientious objection’ clause. This, of course, can cause major access issues and increases the stigma surrounding reproductive health in Ireland.
Please sign this petition if you believe the personal beliefs of an individual should not impact upon the reproductive rights of others.
You will find the petition here.
Can you help us?
The Limerick Feminist Network wants to start a log of the best pharmacies to get the morning after pill in the Limerick area. We would really appreciate it if the public could let us know about their experiences (good and bad) getting access to the morning after pill. We would like to know: what pharmacy you went to, how well you were (or weren’t) treated, if the questions you were asked were overly invasive, and how much you were charged. We will record this information, share it on our website and give it to anyone who contacts us that needs access to the morning after pill. Anyone who does contact us will be dealt with in the strictest of confidence and names will not be recorded.
You can contact us via facebook.com/LimerickFeministNetwork, twitter: @LmkFeminist or at Limerickfeministnetwork@gmail.com. Please spread the word. Thank you.
