Another reproductive health battle has been won, as the FDA voted to approve the United States’ first over-the-counter birth control pill.
The Associated Press reported Thursday, July 13, that the US Food and Drug Administration approved the once-daily birth control pill Opill to be sold at pharmacies and online retailers without a prescription. There are no age restrictions for sales. Perrigo, the company that manufactures Opill, will begin shipping the drug early next year.
Vice President Kamala Harris exclusively told Glamour: “Today, the FDA took an important step that will expand access to contraception. The FDA’s independent, evidence-based action to approve a safe, daily contraceptive for over-the-counter use will make it easier for women across the country to access birth control without having to first obtain a prescription from a doctor. Contraception is an essential part of reproductive health care, and this announcement will help more Americans chart their own course and decide their own future.”
This news comes after advisers for the FDA unanimously voted in support of making Opill available over the counter on Wednesday, May 10. According to CNN, the advisory panel agreed that consumers would be able to take the pill “safely and effectively” without a prescription, with 17 advisers voting in favor and zero abstaining or voting no following a two-day meeting.
“The risks to women of an unintended pregnancy are much greater than any of the things we were discussing as risks of putting this pill out over the counter,” Katalin Roth, MD, of the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, said. “The history of women’s contraception is a struggle for women’s control over their reproduction, and we need to trust women.”
Per the Associated Press, Opill is a daily progestin-only birth control pill, which is a form of contraceptive known to cause fewer side effects and health risks than medications that combine the hormone with estrogen.
As the Republican party continues to strip women of access to health care in a post–Roe world, there have been multiple recent victories in the battle for reproductive rights. In April 2023, the Supreme Court temporarily halted a ban on the leading abortion drug Mifepristone after a Trump-appointed judge in Texas issued a ruling that would have revoked its FDA approval.
In March 2022, 59 members of Congress wrote a letter to the FDA commissioner, Dr. Robert Califf, describing access to over-the-counter contraception as a “critical issue for reproductive health, rights, and justice.” Clearly, progress persists.
