How do I organise getting the morning after pill or having an abortion?
If you’ve had unprotected sex, and it’s been 120 hours (five days) or less, then you can take the morning after pill to prevent pregnancy.
You’ll be able to get a morning after pill for free from:
- your local GP
- most sexual health (GUM) clinics
- most family planning centres
- most NHS walk-in centres or A&E departments
If you’re over 16, you’ll also be get a morning after pill from most pharmacies or private health clinics.
If it’s been longer than 120 hours since you had unprotected sex, and you think you might be pregnant, take a test first to make sure. You can get a home testing kit relatively cheaply from any local pharmacy or supermarket. Otherwise, you can have the test done by a nurse or doctor from your GP surgery or a sexual health clinic.
If you’ve decided that you want to have an abortion, your GP, nurse, or sexual health practitioner will be able to refer you to a specialist for an appointment. In some parts of the UK, you can refer yourself directly to an abortion service without even going to see your GP.
Visit the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) https://www.bpas.org/, MSI Reproductive Choices UK https://www.msichoices.org.uk/, or the Brook website https://www.brook.org.uk/ to find your nearest clinic.
After you’ve found somewhere that offers an abortion, and booked your appointment, someone at the clinic will talk you through the next steps. It’s a good idea to bring someone you feel comfortable with along to your appointment if you don’t want to travel back afterwards alone.