Where to Get Free Emergency Contraception in St. Louis

You can pick it up at three different locations or it can be mailed right to your door

Jun 13, 2023 at 8:42 am

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JAIME LEES

You can now get emergency contraception for free in the mail or pick it up at one of three permanent health centers.

If you find yourself in need of emergency contraception in the St. Louis area, you have a few options at your disposal.

You can buy some at your local pharmacy for $40 - $50, you can get some for free or low-cost at Planned Parenthood locations or you can ask your doctor and your insurance might pay for it.

But now there's another option for emergency contraception if you want to get it for free or without an appointment. Missouri Family Health Council and the St. Louis County Department of Health have stepped up to help get free emergency contraceptive kits to you in person and in the mail.

“In March, I signed an executive order committing St. Louis County to the reproductive and sexual health services it currently provides while working to expand services in an equitable way to address health and racial disparities,” County Executive Dr. Sam Page said. “Making emergency contraception free and accessible is a responsible public health decision. Thank you to the Missouri Family Health Council for making this possible.”

You can get two doses of the Levonorgestrel tablet at three permanent health centers in St. Louis County during regular business hours (8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday). They are fully free to anybody who asks and zero information will be collected from recipients who stop by to pick them up. Not your name, not your address, nothing.

Here are the names and locations of those health centers:

John C. Murphy Health Center
6121 North Hanley Road
Berkeley, MO 63134
314-615-0500

North Central Community Health Center
4000 Jennings Station Road
Jennings, MO 63121
314-615-9700

South County Health Center
4580 South Lindbergh Boulevard
Sunset Hills, MO 63127
314-615-0400

Where to Get Free Emergency Contraception in St. Louis (3)

JAIME LEES

If you don’t want to have to make a mad dash to a health center early one Monday morning, you can also order an emergency contraceptive kit to keep in your medicine cabinet just in case. It’s actually a good idea to have it on hand ready to go because the sooner you take the medicine after an incident, the more likely it is to work.

You can order your kit online through mfhc.org/ec. We ordered one, and it took less than a week to be delivered, and it arrived in a plain white bubble mailer with no indication of what was inside.

The kit includes more than just two doses of Levonorgestrel. Our package also included a selection of condoms, lube, a female condom, a dental dam and literature about different types of birth control.

A couple of things to note:

There is a weight limit on the single 1.5 mg Levonorgestrel Tablet. It’s likely to have reduced efficiency if you are overweight or obese. If you have any questions about that, call your doctor or Planned Parenthood for advice.
Levonorgestrel is not an abortion pill. This pill mostly works by simply stopping you from releasing an egg and preventing fertilization. It does not induce miscarriage or end a pregnancy.