Beginning January 1st, Oregon became the first state in the U.S. to allow women to obtain hormonal birth control directly from a pharmacist.
The state of California is set to follow in their footsteps within the next few months as the second state to allow women to obtain the pill without a doctor’s prescription.
This new process is meant to be more streamlined, allowing women to simply visit their local drug store and fill out a questionnaire designed to determine whether the hormonal birth control is right for them, with the aid of a pharmacist.
By removing another obstacle between women and birth control, these states hope to make one of the most efficient methods of birth control more accessible and more convenient for women, in an attempt to reduce rates of unintended pregnancy and abortion.
While this idea may seem strange to us, most countries actually already offer the pill over-the-counter. Women in the North America, Australia, Japan and most of Europe are generally required to have a prescription for hormonal birth control, but other countries including China and India have pills available over-the-counter.
A recent health survey involving reproductive health experts in 147 countries found that women in the U.S. and 44 other countries need a prescription to obtain birth control pills, but in the remaining countries, the pill is either available over-the-counter or it is available once completing a screening in a pharmacy.
In addition, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (AGOC) endorses making hormonal birth control available without a doctor’s prescription. Our current system requires most women to get a full check-up before receiving the pill, including cervical cancer screening and STI testing. While these tests are important for the majority of females, they are not necessary for every individual who wants to begin hormonal birth control – making a visit to the doctor’s office unnecessary for certain women.
Because the pill is a form of hormonal birth control, it does carry some risks, particularly for women with a history of heart attack, stroke, blood clots, high blood pressure, or for women who smoke and are over the age of 35. However, proponents argue that women are more than capable of screening themselves for potential risks associated with the pill. One study found that women’s self-evaluations regarding whether or not they should take the pill matched up with a doctor’s recommendations more than 90 percent of the time. Even when the doctor’s advice and the patient’s self-evaluation did not match up, it was more often due to women being overly cautious about their own risks.
Another important factor? Women – the people whose lives this legislation most directly affects – support this change. A study conducted by Ibis Reproductive Health shows that two-thirds of the 2,000 women surveyed supported over-the-counter birth control, and about 30 percent of women who currently do not use birth control said they would take the pill if it was available over the counter.
Doctors and healthcare providers stand behind over-the-counter birth control as well. 70 percent of healthcare providers and 76 percent of doctors support easier access to the pill as well as other forms of birth control that currently require a prescription in most states.
As word spreads, other states are re-examining the idea of over-the-counter birth control, and pharmacy chains are urging certain states to follow Oregon and California’s lead.
Although only two states have actively taken steps towards more accessible birth control, it is the beginning of a larger trend – one with fewer boundaries between women and reproductive health services.
