The US is Finally Joining Over a Hundred Nations Offering an Over-the-Counter Birth Control Pill
Last week the United States joined over 100 other countries that allow over-the-counter (OTC) access of birth control pills.
America is exceptional.
We hear that a lot, particularly from conservatives.
In republican/conservative parlance, though, “exceptional” means “better”.
But there are myriad things some of our other capitalist allies have been doing better a long time we haven’t quite gotten around to yet because our “exceptional” nature has stood in the way.
A national healthcare system is at the top of that list.
Tuition-free college is another.
A progressive taxation system wherein the richest pay their fair share of taxes so everyone — rich, poor, young, old, liberal or conservative — benefits from a robust social safety net.
Sometimes, though, we get around to joining the club, and when we do, we often like to pretend we were the first to arrive.
As long as we get there and it’s for the greater good, no harm in letting us pretend.
Last week the United States joined over 100 other countries that allow over-the-counter (OTC) access of birth control pills.
On Thursday, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Opill, the first prescription-free hormonal contraceptive pill available in the U.S.
This is huge news, and not just because it comes at a time when the US appears to be sliding into a Gilead-esque dystopia regarding women’s reproductive freedoms.
It’s huge from a socioeconomic perspective as well.
For starters, low-income women previously limited in their access to oral contraceptives will finally be able to have full bodily autonomy. (Something republicans and the so-called “Christian” right lining their campaign coffers are going to accept over their dead bodies.)
Second, while the Affordable Care Act (ACA, aka “Obamacare”) continues to expand previously uninsured or under-insured Americans’ access to health insurance, about 27 million Americans as of last year still go without it. While the ACA requires insurance companies cover women’s preventative care, birth control included, that provision does not extend to OTC methods.
Third, it removes the threat of harm many women and girls inflict upon themselves when safe, effective birth control is unavailable to them and they resort to extreme means out of desperation.
Fourth — something that should appeal to anti-choice people but probably won’t — it will eliminate over six million unwanted pregnancies a year.
Fifth, it eliminates a stigma associated with birth control when women are forced to obtain prescriptions from doctors they then must submit to pharmacists for fulfillment. Many women choose not to subject themselves to that stigma lest they be subjected to slurs associated with sexual promiscuity.
19-year-old University of Alabama student, Dyvia Huitron, is one such woman.
Explaining how her parents prohibited her from starting birth control when she became sexually active, she said:
There was just a lot of cultural stigma around being sexually active before you’re married. I would have much preferred to have birth control and use these additional methods to ensure that I was being as safe as possible.
The American Medical Association (AMA) and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) have been advocating for an OTC option for years.
The FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research director, Dr. Patrizia Cavazzoni, explained:
When used as directed, daily oral contraception is safe and is expected to be more effective than currently available nonprescription contraceptive methods in preventing unintended pregnancy.
Perrigo, Opill’s manufacturer, announced in a statement that the FDA’s approval constitutes a “milestone” and a “giant leap for women’s empowerment”.
National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice executive director, Lupe M Rodríguez, said:
If this is implemented correctly, expanding access to birth control will allow our communities the freedom to make meaningful decisions about our lives and futures. Now we must ensure that this safe and effective birth control pill is affordable and covered by insurance.
Opill isn’t even new. It was first approved in the US 50 years ago.
Kelly Blanchard, president of Ibis Reproductive Health, a nonprofit group that supported the approval, explained:
It’s been around a long time, and we have a large amount of data supporting that this pill is safe and effective for over-the-counter use.
Perrigo executives stated the company will spend the remainder of the year manufacturing Opill to be made available in stores early next year.