Emergency Contraceptive Kits To Be Available through Partnership with Missouri Family Health Council

The City of St. Louis Department of Health is participating in a new project called “Free EC” to offer no-cost emergency contraceptive kits to Missourians. Launched earlier this year by Missouri Family Health Council, the Department of Health will be one of more than 60 sites statewide where kits are available.

“This project provides necessary access to reproductive health information and birth control methods, which is needed after recent statewide changes to how we provide those services,” says Dr. Mati Hlatshwayo Davis, Director of Health for the City of St. Louis. “The Department of Health continues to work toward equitable health access for all St. Louisans, including reproductive care.”

The medication in the kit is levonorgestrel. “Emergency contraception, or ‘EC,’ is a type of birth control that’s taken after sex, instead of before,” said Raissa Ameh, MSN, APRN, WHNP-BC, Clinical Director for Missouri Family Health Council, Inc. (MFHC). “EC is a great option for preventing pregnancy after unprotected or under-protected sex.” Levonorgestrel is not an abortifacient.

Beginning December 18, 2023, kits can be picked up at the Department of Health’s Communicable Disease Bureau in Room 4027 between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. The department will be closed on Monday, December 25, and again on January 1, 2024, for the holidays.

Starting January 2, 2024, kits will be available at the department’s Health Stop Testing and Referral Center Mondays through Thursdays from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. (closed 12:00 p.m.-1:00 p.m.) and in Room 4027 on Fridays from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

A goal of the Free EC project is to eliminate as many birth control barriers, including geographical and financial, as possible. For more information on the Free EC program or to request a kit by mail, visit MFHC.org/EC. MFHC will not mail kits between December 18, 2023, and January 2, 2024.