Thanks to years of campaigning and the response to a Black Friday blunder, Boots has finally reduced the price of the essential morning after pill.

Black Friday is always a slightly jarring day, where advertisements persuade you to consume all kinds of things you didn’t want or need before, or things are so heavily discounted that it makes you question why the price is set at such a profit the rest of the year. These kinds of tactics you’d maybe expect for fashion and technology, but not medicine.

Yet last November, journalist Rose Stokes exposed a Black Friday discount of emergency contraception at Boots. Theyhad reduced the price by 50% with a discount code, for an essential medicine in preventing unwanted pregnancies.

This was clearly tone deaf messaging, but the Black Friday deal revealed a darker disregard for the rights of women to sexual and reproductive health, in favour of profit.

“The discount Boots offered, and the fact that the same medication is available from other online retailers for less than £4, demonstrated the significant mark-up imposed on this essential medication.” – British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS)

The BPAS, alongside campaigners and MP Diana Johnson, pushed for Boots to permanently reduce the price of emergency contraception. Today, 4th February 2022, Boots have done that, with Superdrug and Lloyds Pharmacy following suit, setting the price of the morning after pill at £10.

“I literally cannot put into words how delighted we all are & how much of a difference this will make to those that need this critical medicine most” – Rose Stokes

Since 2017, the price of the morning after pill has reduced from £30 to £15.99 to £10, thanks to campaigning efforts for affordable and accessible contraception, from groups like the BPAS. This progress is proof that campaigning works: inraising awareness of the gender health gap, and taking a step towards reducing the barriers to healthcare access for women.
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Rose Mason is a writer on a whole host of topics, from sustainability, to politics, to chatting about her daydreams. She lives in London and is usually found hunched over her laptop or playing board games with her friends.