Sunita Laxman Jadhav is a door-to-door saleswoman who sells waiting. She sweeps along muddy village lanes in her nurse’s white sari, calling on newly married couples with an unblushing proposition: Wait two years before getting pregnant, and the government will thank you. It also will pay you. “I want to tell you about our honeymoon package,” began Ms. Jadhav, an auxiliary nurse, during a recent house call on a new bride in...

Morning-after Pills should be back on air. And not just private companies but even the Union health ministry should advertise them. This is the view of a four-member expert committee set up by the Drug Technical Advisory Board (DTAB) recently to assess the pros and cons of allowing advertising of emergency Pills. The Drug Controller General's office banned advertising of all emergency contraceptives like Unwanted-72 and I-Pill on January 11,...

Seeks opinion of Medical Council and Ministry in curbing their promotion  Oral emergency contraceptive Pills gaining popularity among young girls Advertisements quite misleading and its side-effects are undisclosed Concerned over the indiscriminate use of emergency contraceptive Pills sold across the country, the National Commission for Women (NCW) has written to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the Medical Council of India seeking their opinion in curbing the promotion of these...

The Supreme Court today dismissed a petition by an NGO seeking to bar the over-the-counter sale of i-pill, an emergency contraceptive tablet, saying it was the same as abortion at home. The i-pill prevents pregnancy if a woman has it within 72 hours of sexual intercourse. While dismissing the plea by Krupa Prolifers as “not scientific”, the three-judge bench said admitting the plea may “scare people and send a wrong...