Recently, during a time of contentious debates about and attacks on women’s and AFAB rights, we surprisingly experienced a win for reproductive health: a panel of FDA advisors recommended that a type of birth control pill be sold over the counter (OTC).
This has been a long time coming, as the US has — surprise! — been far behind other developed countries (and even developing countries) in its reproductive care. Currently, birth control pills are OTC in Mexico and almost all of central America; all but two countries in South America; much of Africa; almost all of Asia; and many European countries like the UK, Portugal, and Ukraine. If you were curious, that’s over 100 countries. And the US still isn’t one of them.
But that might be about to change.
Although the matter hasn’t been officially decided yet — the FDA will make its choice this summer— it’s looking optimistic. The advisors expressed unanimous support for making it OTC, and while the FDA isn’t forced to follow the decisions of its advisors, it often does.
But when will it roll out? And what about the lawmakers who insist on jeopardizing access to reproductive care at every turn? And is it even healthy to offer a pill OTC when it contains hormones with potentially serious side effects?
Lots of people are wondering the same things, and if this decision goes through, there’ll undoubtedly be lots of questions and arguments. So let’s look at the facts.