Morning-after pills will no longer be as easy to buy as candy in some NYC pharmacies.

Duane Reade has pulled displays along the checkout line advertising Take Action emergency contraceptive pills for $39.99 — while most other products like socks and chocolate remain locked up — after The Post last week revealed the controversial placement at three lower Manhattan locations.

The pills should not have been by the register, the company said after the story was published, without explaining how or why they wound up there.

“These products are typically placed in our family planning section of the store, located near our pharmacy so that customers can easily access the pharmacist with any questions,” Megan Boyd, a communications manager for Walgreens, which owns Duane Reade, told The Post.

“These products have subsequently been returned to that section of our store,” she added.

A trio of Duane Reade stores — on Wall, Water, and John streets — all had the Take Action displays near the register, and now the pills at each are located at the pharmacy counter, The Post has found.

A manager at the Duane Reade on Wall Street said last week the “impulse” bin selection was “random.”

Shoppers were stunned by the placement, especially since they are forced to get employee assistance to unlock many items like energy drinks and ice cream amid a soaring shoplifting crisis.

“That should be locked up behind the counter,” said Alex Nantes, 50, who was visiting the Big Apple with his two sons, of the contraceptive. “The priorities are backward.”

“You would think it would be with the other birth control products, but it’s just out in the open next to the sunscreen,” he added.