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The morning-after pill may soon be available over the counter all across Canada.

Health Minister Pierre Pettigrew is proposing an amendment to the Food and Drug Regulations to allow a 0.75 milligram dose of levonorgestrel (an emergency contraceptive) to be available without a doctor's prescription.

This move would follow in the footsteps of British Columbia, Quebec and Saskatchewan, which have already decided to make the pills available after consultation with pharmacists.

“The fact that the drug would be available ‘behind the counter' means that women would have timely access to the drug and receive professional health advice regarding its use,” Health Minister Pierre Pettigrew said in a statement on Tuesday, following consultation with women's groups and health professionals.

The emergency contraceptive, which must be taken within 72 hours of unprotected sex or a contraceptive accident, is currently available in the other seven provinces with a doctor's prescription, at walk-in clinics and at certain hassle-free sexual health clinics.

But women are not always able to fill the prescription and take the drug within the recommended amount of time on weekends and holidays when physician's offices are closed and wait times at walk-in-clinics are lengthy.

“Access is essential to the effectiveness of this drug, since it must be taken within 72 hours of intercourse,” said Emmanuel Chabot, spokesman for Health Canada.

“I think it's good news for Canadian women, I think anything that helps to reduce the barriers to access is a good thing,” said Hazelle Palmer, executive director at Planned Parenthood of Toronto.

“Sometimes women have to deal with bias and judgment around their use of contraception,” she said, explaining the amendment would allow women “to make that decision for themselves”.

“The emergency contraceptive has been controversial because it's been mixed up quite erroneously with the abortion pill,” Ms. Palmer said. “It's not an abortion pill, it's a way for a woman to avoid an unwanted pregnancy if she has had unprotected sex or if she has been a victim of sexual assault.”

The proposed amendment, expected May 22, will undergo a 75-day consultation period – standard procedure for regulatory amendments.

Once Health Canada's amendment to remove the drug from the prescription-requiring Schedule F status is approved, the National Drug Scheduling Advisory Committee of the National Association of Pharmacy Regulatory Authorities will consult with provinces and territories on conditions of sale.

The NDSAC has already recommended Schedule II (behind-the-counter status) for the drug.

The World Health Organization's position is that emergency contraceptive pills are not harmful if used only for short periods of time.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved two emergency contraceptives, Preven and Plan B, for use. The FDA rejected an advisory committee's recommendation in Dec. 2003 to sell Plan B over-the-counter.

“The applicant would have to either provide additional data demonstrating that Plan B can be used safely by women under 16 years of age without the professional supervision of a practitioner licensed by law to administer the drug,” the FDA says in a statement on its website.

The FDA added that the applicant would also have to “provide additional support for the revised indication to allow for marketing Plan B as prescription-only for women under the age of 16 and as nonprescription for women 16 years of age and older.”