Controlling Contraception: The Case for Over-the-Counter Availability of Nonemergency Oral Contraceptives

Abstract

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) currently categorizes nonemergency oral contraceptives as prescription-only instead of nonprescription, or over-the-counter, drugs. The time has come for the FDA to reconsider this decision and allow oral contraceptives to be prescribed on an over-the-counter basis. The high safety level of oral contraceptives, numerous studies indicating that greater misuse of oral contraceptives will not occur if they are available over-the-counter, and an assessment of collateral factors relating to oral contraceptive use support this conclusion. Additionally, should the FDA create a new class of behind-the-counter drugs, considerations of access, cost, privacy, and pharmacist interference with women’s right to make their own birth control determinations indicate that it would still be more appropriate to designate oral contraceptives as over-the-counter drugs rather than to move them to this new category.