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MPs encourage boycott of Boots over 'unacceptable and patronising' emergency contraception pricing

Jess Phillips, Stella Creasy, Emily Thornberry and Yvette Cooper are among those who have spoken out - Copyright (c) 2013 Rex Features. No use without permission.
Jess Phillips, Stella Creasy, Emily Thornberry and Yvette Cooper are among those who have spoken out - Copyright (c) 2013 Rex Features. No use without permission.

Female MPs have waded into the Boots debate, as it was revealed that the pharmacist purposefully keeps the cost of emergency contraception high in a bid to avoid being accused of “incentivising inappropriate use”.

Jess Phillips, the MP for Birmingham Yardley encouraged a boycott, telling The Telegraph: "It's totally unacceptable and also totally commercial, they're willing to take a moral stance if it pays them. They're still willing to sell it.

"It's clearly a commercial interest on their part. Their position infantalises women's choices.

"Everybody would boycott it for that - I agree that we should boycott it.

"I don't usually agree with calling for boycotts but in this case I encourage women to vote with their feet and to not use Boots."

She also told The Telegraph that the women's Parliamentary Labour Party is writing to Boots to condemn its pricing choice.

Stella Creasy MP has encouraged her followers on Twitter to boycott the stores after finding out Tesco and Superdrug halved the cost of their emergency contraception and Boots failed to follow suit.

The MP tweeted: "Fear of criticism you say @BootsHelp? You should fear the consumer rights act more and the power of all of us to withhold our custom…"

 Boots charges £28.25 for Levonelle emergency contraceptive (the leading brand) and £26.75 for its own generic version. Tesco now charges £13.50 for Levonelle and Superdrug £13.49 for a generic version. In France, the tablet costs £5.50.

The British Pregnancy Advisory Service revealed to The Telegraph that Boots could be making a huge profit on sales of the emergency contraceptive.

BPAS said: "It is understand that the wholesale cost of Levonelle is between £5 - £13 with larger stores able to negotiate the lowest prices. This means pharmacy giant Boots, which sells the Pill for £30, could be marking up the price by six times."

Boots commented: “As the UK’s leading pharmacy-led health and beauty retailer, we are regularly contacted by groups with varying views on this topic, our priority is the health and wellbeing of our customers and patients.

"We were recently contacted by the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) and sent a full and detailed response outlining our views that this is a professional healthcare service which, we believe, requires a professional healthcare consultation. This consultation helps support customers in their choice by examining an individual’s full medical history and any potential drug interactions. The consultation also helps the pharmacist offer important sexual healthcare advice to women and helps us prevent emergency contraception from being misused or overused.   

"The NHS commission a free local EHC service which we offer in the vast majority of our pharmacies to eligible women following consultation.  We also stock three Emergency Hormonal Contraceptive medicines (EHC) which are available following a conversation with a pharmacist.

"We are extremely disappointed by the focus BPAS have taken in this instance.”  

 Marc Donovan, chief pharmacist of Boots UK, had said in a letter to BPAS: "In our experience the subject of emergency hormonal contraception polarises public opinion and we receive frequent contact from individuals who voice their disapproval of the fact that the company chooses to provide this service.

“We would not want to be accused of incentivising inappropriate use, and provoking complaints, by significantly reducing the price of this product.”

The chain has been criticised by a number of MPs, including Yvette Cooper who wrote: "This is patronising & pathetic - keeping emergency contraception price too high cos you don't trust women & are scared of critics".

Emily Thornberry was similarly derisive, commenting: "Eh? "incentivising inappropriate use" What is @BootsUK thinking?"