Physicians working in hospitals or clinics without religious affiliations are more likely than physicians working in religious-affiliated facilities to prescribe emergency contraception, which can prevent pregnancy if taken up to 72 hours after sexual intercourse, according to research published in the American Journal of Public Health, Reuters Health reports. Linda Prine of Albert Einstein College of Medicine and colleagues surveyed faculty, residents and nurse practitioners working in six residency programs, three of which were affiliated with the Catholic Church. The researchers created nine scenarios -- including whether participants would prescribe EC to a woman seeking a pregnancy test who is not pregnant and not using contraception; if they would prescribe EC over the phone; and whether they refill EC prescriptions. According to researchers, in seven of the nine situations, health workers in nonreligious-affiliated facilities more readily prescribed EC than those working in religious-affiliated facilities. The findings also show that 10.4% of providers in religious-affiliated institutions said that during a routine exam they "all or some of the time" would prescribe EC to women who were not using a continuous method of birth control, compared with 41.7% of those in nonreligious-affiliated practices. About one in four providers at religious-affiliated institutions said they encouraged women to fill EC prescriptions, compared with nearly half of health care providers in nonreligious-affiliated facilities, according to the findings. "[T]he real take-home message is this medication needs to be over the counter because physicians are not doing a good job of getting it out there," Prine said. According to Prine and her colleagues, "This survey demonstrates that religious affiliation clearly creates a deterrent to prescribing emergency contraception in a wide range of clinical scenarios. For women as consumers, they need to be wary of the affiliation of the offices where they get their medical care" (Harding, Reuters Health, 8/15).