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A FIFTH of pharmacies sampled in the US misinform teen callers about contraceptive availability.

Tracey Wilkinson of and colleagues twice phoned 943 pharmacies in five major cities to request emergency contraception. Girls who are 17 or over are legally entitled to prescription-free emergency contraceptives, so for one call a researcher posed as a 17-year-old girl, and for the other as a physician calling on her behalf.

The “teenagers” were told they could not obtain the contraception under any circumstances in 19 per cent of cases. Three per cent of “physicians” heard the same (Pediatrics, ).

“There is no scientific basis for age restriction on over-the-counter emergency contraception,” says Rebecca Wind at the in New York. She says removing the age restriction would be “the most evidence-based approach” to reducing barriers to access.