The manufacturers of a drug marketed as an emergency contraceptive, taken after unprotected intercourse, have abandoned an attempt to sell it in the Republic.
The application for a licence to market Levonelle-2 was withdrawn after the company was told by the Irish Medicines Board that it appears to act as an abortifacient.
But the Irish Family Planning Association says the board is mistaken, and has written to the Department of Health and Children to complain.
The IFPA says Levonelle is more suitable for some women than the emergency contraceptive already in use here and known as the "morning after" pill.
The new pill is less likely to cause stomach upsets than the one currently in use.
Levonelle-2 has been available on doctor's prescription in the UK since February. The UK Committee on Safety of Medicines has recommended that it be sold directly by pharmacists to women over 16.
The Irish Medicines Board said yesterday it had advised the manufacturers that its understanding was that the drug was an abortifacient. It was then withdrawn by the manufacturers.
"We think that's regrettable," Mr Tony O'Brien, chief executive of the Irish Family Planning Association, said of the Irish Medicines Board stance.
"It does not have the type of effect needed for it to be described as abortifacient." It was licensed in 13 EU states under regulations governing contraception rather than abortion.
Levonelle contains progesterone only, whereas the traditional "morning after" pill contains both progesterone and oestrogen. Both are more effective the earlier they are taken.
pomorain@irish-times.ie