Emergency contraception

In March 1916, the author Lytton Strachey entered Hampstead Town Hall at the behest of a military tribunal to explain his refusal to fight in the Great War. Asked if he had a conscientious objection to all wars, Strachey, according to his biographer Holroyd (1971, p.628), replied, ‘Oh no, not at all. Only this one.’ His interrogator retorted, ‘Then tell me, Mr Strachey, what would you do if you saw a German soldier attempting to rape your sister?’ Strachey answered, ‘I should try and come between them.’

An obscure episode from over a century ago has no connection to modern medicine … or has it? With rape a commonly used weapon of war, a modern-day Strachey might reply that were his sister raped by a soldier, he would advise her to take emergency hormonal contraception (EHC), a safe and effective means of preventing pregnancy following sexual assault, unprotected sexual intercourse, or a failure of contraception. Taken in tablet form, it has been available without prescription in the UK and Ireland from 2001 and 2011, respectively (Gallagher et al, 2013)