Inviting the pharmacist: a model for improved reproductive care access.

On a Saturday afternoon in 1998, in a small town in Washington State, a 15-year-old young woman accompanied by her friend enters a local pharmacy and walks up to the counter. The tearful 15-year-old needs help and tells the pharmacist of being raped the night before. She expressed being too afraid to tell her parents, the police or her doctor. She decided to come to the pharmacy because it was “less scary” and she was aware that pharmacists in the state could prescribe emergency contraception. The pharmacist took the patient to a private counseling room, prescribed and provided her with emergency contraception, and gave her a glass of water to take the medication. After talking with the pharmacist, the patient agreed to have the pharmacist call a local Title X clinic where the pharmacist had a preexisting collaborative agreement; she was seen by clinicians there shortly thereafter [1].