How to buy ellaOne^® over the counter at the pharmacy

So, you’ve had unprotected sex and you’ve made the decision to take emergency contraception. You can choose to buy ellaOne^® in a pharmacy, or you can even order ellaOne^® online for pick up in store, if you wish.

Many people feel nervous about making the trip to the pharmacy to ask for the morning after pill – and it’s easy to see why. Disclosing to a complete stranger that you’ve had unprotected sex might feel a little strange, but it’s important not to let this put you off getting emergency contraception if you want to prevent risking an unplanned pregnancy. Remember that the pharmacy staff are there to help, not to judge you.

You don’t need a prescription to buy ellaOne^®. The pharmacist will need to ask you some questions about when the unprotected sex happened, and some more questions about any health conditions you may have, or medicines that you are taking, that could interact with the morning after pill.

ellaOne^® has put together a guide to buying the morning after pill in the pharmacy, and explained the questions you may be asked, so that if you’re feeling nervous about the trip you can prepare yourself. Take a look at our suitability checker here.

Don’t forget – emergency contraception is most effective the sooner you take it, so don’t wait around. For more information about ellaOne^®, check out All you need to know about ellaOne^®.

ellaOne^® is available to buy from most pharmacies, including McCabes and Hickeys.  To make things even easier, you can type your home or work address into the search engine and we will direct you to your nearest pharmacy.

Prices vary depending on the pharmacy, but ellaOne^® normally costs around 35 €.

Most people can take the morning after pill without any complications. The consultation you have with the pharmacist will determine whether the morning after pill is suitable for you.

You should speak to a healthcare professional if you think that the morning after pill won’t be suitable for you, they could recommend you have a copper IUD inserted. You can learn a bit more about that in our guide to Emergency Contraception.

If you’ve done your research and decided that ellaOne^® is the morning after pill for you, you can ask the pharmacist for ellaOne^® by name – this also saves you from saying ‘morning after pill’ or ‘emergency contraception’ out loud, if you are embarrassed to do so.

The counter staff might then ask you to wait until a pharmacist or another trained member of the team is free to speak with you and ask you a few questions to check that ellaOne^® is suitable for you. If this happens, the pharmacist will offer you a private consultation room: so you won’t have to tell them that you’ve had unprotected sex, in a room full of people waiting for their prescriptions. You can always ask to see the pharmacist privately without disclosing to anyone else why you want to talk.

Here is the set of questions that a pharmacist might ask you, and we’ve explained why so that you can feel confident in giving them your answers. You might be feeling nervous or upset, but the pharmacist is there to help and reassure you. You can even use this guide to prepare your answers in advance. Just remember: it’s very important to tell the pharmacist the truth about what’s happened.

‘When did the unprotected sex take place?’

The pharmacist needs to know this to make sure you are still within the window when emergency contraception can be effective. ellaOne® can be effective for up to 120 hours (5 days), whereas for pills containing levonorgestrel this is 72 hours (3 days).

‘What is your age?’

The pharmacist might ask you this, because if you are under 17 there may be some further questions for you. You will not be refused the morning after pill based on your age, unless you are under 13.

‘Is there any chance you could already be pregnant?’

The pharmacist will ask you this because you should not take the morning after pill if you are already pregnant. If you think there is a chance that you are pregnant, the pharmacist will ask you to take a pregnancy test before you are given the morning after pill.

It’s important to remember that ellaOne^® is not an abortion pill. If you are already pregnant it will not have any effect on the pregnancy or the baby. This is because ellaOne^® works by delaying ovulation, and it cannot interrupt an existing pregnancy.

‘Are you breastfeeding?’

The pharmacist will ask this because ellaOne^® is not recommended for women who are breastfeeding.

If you are breastfeeding and choose to take ellaOne^®, you will not be able to breastfeed for one week afterwards. You can continue pumping during this time to maintain milk production, but should dispose of the milk afterwards.

‘Are you taking any medication?’

The pharmacist will ask this to check that you are not taking any medication that could stop the morning after pill from working properly.

‘Do you have any health conditions? e.g. liver disease and allergies?’

The pharmacist will ask this to ensure that you aren’t allergic to any of the ingredients in ellaOne^®, or that you could be taking medicine for another condition that could interfere with the emergency contraception working correctly.

The pharmacist isn’t looking for any information that isn’t directly relevant to your health, and how effective the morning after pill will be for you. You don’t need to go into too many details about the unprotected sex or contraceptive failure you had.

We know that asking for the morning after pill can be daunting, but the more you know, the more confident you can feel about it. If you want to learn more about the ellaOne^® morning after pill, head over to our ellaOne^® FAQs page.