General News Birth control will be available without prescription in CA

California Women Can Soon Go Right To The Pharmacist For Birth Control : Shots - Health News : NPR

This is a great victory for women's rights! Doctors often have such long waiting times so it'll be much easier to go to the pharmacist instead

Although it doesn't go far enough to make birth control over the counter, this will do.

 

Wait, what? Women had to go to a doctor for birth control? I don't see the point in that at all.

 

Yeah. You had to have a prescription. In some cases you could've gotten a prescription from places like Planned Parenthood or community clinics but the fact remains, getting it from a pharmacy requires a prescription. Insurance, to its credit, will usually cover 100% of the cost when it comes to getting the pills.

Oh believe me, I actually know a lot of people who are going to be happy about this, cis women and trans men. I can tell you from my own doctor that dealing with prescriptions is a pain in the ass. And considering how beneficial prescription free birth control could be (easy access for the uninsured and people in bad situations), I dunno why this didn't happen sooner. They're talking about doing the same thing in Oregon.

 

I just don't get why it was even a requirement in the first place, I mean, men have easy access to condoms. Does it have bad side affects for some people?

 

I believe it's the fact that it is a pill full of hormones and people didn't feel comfortable having it available like condoms. However, that doesn't really make sense since melatonin is a hormone that is sold like ZzzQuil. Also, hormonal contraceptives can cause abnormal mood changes and a slight increase in blood clot risk. That's why women will need to have their blood pressure taken by their pharmacist before getting birth control.

---------- Post added 21st Aug 2015 at 08:19 PM ----------

They've already done it!

 

Birth control does come with potential side effects as all routine medication.

This is a good step because women without coverage or support from parental figures will be able to access birth control without the requirement, but it would still be best that a professional is consulted prior and every so often.

 

Excellent news.

 

I am pretty sure female condom are also readily available without prescription.

Now, if there is a pill that prevent sperm creation in men, I think that too would require prescription.

 

I am concerned about how this would be implemented in the retail setting. Pharmacists have to follow up with patients and counsel them, which could be time consuming and thus burdensome to retail pharmacies that have a high prescription volume. For instance, if the patient has side effects from hormonal contraceptives, then the pharmacist may need to titrate the dose of certain hormones based on the side effects presented. And apart from screening for stage 2 hypertension as already mentioned, clinicians would need to check for a past medical history too, of which the patient may not be fully aware, unless their physician is contacted. Contacting doctors ends up being a hassle too.

Perhaps pharmacy access to patient's electronic health records from their physician would expedite the screening process for past medical history, but even then, not all physician's offices use electronic health records...

These are the problems that I see with this law, but apart from them, I think this law is great for patients who want readily available access to contraceptive products, as pharmacies are pretty ubiquitous.