Many pharmacists lack knowledge about ECs. (Pennsylvania Study).

DENVER -- Years after Food and Drug Administration approval of emergency contraception, many pharmacists still lack basic knowledge about the pill regimens and discourage women from attempting to fill prescriptions for them, Wendy Bennett said at the annual meeting of the Association of Reproductive Health Professionals.

As part of a survey, researchers posing as "mystery shoppers" asked 315 community pharmacists in Pennsylvania whether they could fill a physician's prescription for emergency contraception that day A total of 65% said that they could not.

Emergency contraceptives (ECs) have the "underutilized potential" for preventing a million abortions and 2 million unwanted pregnancies in the United States each year, said Ms. Bennett, an investigator in the study, which was sponsored by the Clara Bell Duval Reproductive Freedom Project of the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania.

"Community pharmacists have great potential to educate and counsel women as well as to stock and dispense emergency contraception," she added.

But first, many pharmacists may need more education themselves. Female investigators who posed as consumers and called community pharmacists in Pennsylvania reported the following results:

* 51% failed to describe ECs as a form of high-dose hormones.

* 67% could not state accurately the time period (within 72 hours of unprotected intercourse) in which emergency contraceptives should be used.