Do you think being able to obtain birth control without a prescription is a good thing?

Just like you can buy a plethora of other medications without a prescription. It is perfectly fine.

Birth control is generally safe unless the user has other health issues.

The same can be said for Tylenol, Mucinex, and aspirin, and no one is going to argue we should take aspirin back to prescription only status.

While we’re making birth control OTC, can we open up Voltaren gel and Tylenol 3? Voltaren is about the only thing that makes a long day of walking tolerable for me, and it’s safer than Aspercreme with lidocaine.

Canada gets it over the counter. No fair.

Well it can affect blood pressure apparently, but I would think if a person has high blood pressure that they are already being treated and would be warned about what kind of birth control they can or cannot take. I’m sure like all over the counter medications that it will come with warnings. So buyer beware.

As long as there’s no specific health issue with the specific type, I see no issue.

Birth control pills have side effects, and I think there are reasons for different people getting different formulas. There might be a need for assuring there won’t be issues with specific people taking specific formulas, and it’s important that people understand the side effects, so that might call for a doctor to avoid certain problems. Of course, some women would already know their details. As long as they sign a voucher taking responsibility, I don’t think there should be a barrier to them getting them.

Part of that is my attitude that the liability situation in our legal system is backwards, though. I think that if/when people know and accept risks of their actions and make a choice to be responsible, that they should not be able to sue for damages they do to themselves.

I would like to say yes, but I had some health problems associated with taking the pill and I would not have known without care from my doctor.

I get migraine auras which put me at a greater risk for having a stroke. I once lost vision in my right eye for about 20 minutes. My doctor immediately took me off the pill. My only bc option now is IUDs.

I’m going to say I’m ok with it OTC. When I took BC as a teen, I had to get checked every 6 months. That was the law or someone’s rule at the time. They checked my blood pressure, did the PAP smear, etc., but never checked the biggest concern for me, which is blood clots. I know now that’s a heightened concern specifically to me, because now I know I have a genetic reason to be concerned.

The only problem possibly is people taking it wrong. Like not understanding a 21 day pack.

I’m not okay with allowing BC pills being sold over the counter. It’s a medication that alters a woman’s hormonal system. That shouldn’t be done prior to a physical check-up by a doctor. It only takes reading up on the various types of BC pills and their side effects to realize that they aren’t for the layman to self-subscribe.

In addition, let’s face it; some people are ignorant when it comes to sexual education, as well as how the human body works. If BC were made OTC, what would prevent someone from purchasing and using the medication in the incorrect manner due to the lack of education by a healthcare professional?

@Pied_Pfeffer, Exactly. OTC medications are generally mild, and generally safe for most people. I don’t think the same can be said of BC pills.

A lot of the time pills are prescription so the pharma company charges a high price and has a corner on the market. Patent and all that. Many OTC drugs are dangerous when taken incorrectly. Aspirin has a risk of Reye’s syndrome when given to children with viral infection. I had to stop my SIL from giving it to her child just ten years ago when I thought everyone knew not to do such a think. Plus, the warning is right there on the label. Don’t take Tylenol with alcohol. There are more.

Also, remember when Prilosec was prescription only? And, yeast infection medicine? Ibuprofen? I think maybe nicotine gum and patches too? I’m not sure about those? Dimetapp back in the day, then it was OTC for a long while. Then it was pulled from the market.

I agree BC pills might be more tricky than some, but the main reason women were summoned to the doctor’s office for a new prescription was to check women for disease, STD’s, not for other health reasons. They should have been checked for other things, but I don’t think most were.

I really doubt it will be made OTC. That will be quite interesting if it happens. I thought all the arguments were about morning after pills and abortion pills being made OTC, I hadn’t heard about regular BC pills.

Yeah, and how many women take BC pills any more anyway, what with the depo shot you take once every three months. There are other forms too.

Providing that it is a requirement for the customer to have consultation with a pharmacist.

I work for a health and beauty store, and this is the policy we have for the morning after pill. It’s just a matter of making sure the customer doesn’t have health complications, or is taking medication that could interact with the morning after pill.

However the emergency contraception pill is still only by prescription in Ireland. I would say a pharmacist consultation could be applied to the selling of ECP too.

That would be a good practice @NerdyKeith. I suppose they could provide the depo shots too, the way they provide flu shots now. And you don’t pay a pharmacist for a consult.

@Dutchess_III Well the way it is done in Ireland is you pay €40 (which includes the consultation and morning after pill)

How much in USD?

€40 roughly convert to $45 (US)

I think making it free for lower income families would be much more of a societal breakthrough for our country than making it non-prescription.

“The pill” comes with possible bad side effects. I think one should be under a doctor’s care if taking hormones.

I agree @MollyMcGuire. At least a yearly check up, anyway, which women should have whether they’re on the pill or not.

Maybe a doctor’s exam and then 12 months of prescriptions and then another doctor visit. So doctor visit every 12 months?

@jca Don’t all doctors make you come in once a year to get prescriptions? Mine do. I don’t know if it’s a law, but they all do it.

It was so long ago that I took birth control that I really don’t remember.

Yeah, they do. It’s terribly inconvenient.

~~By the way, this month you have to spend an extra $100 on a year you need no clinical exams, so you can wave at your doctor and say, “refills please?”

@jca All doctors. Whether someone needs thyroid meds, diabetes meds, high blood pressure meds, or a med for a random sinus infection. My experience is if you haven’t seen the doctor for a year they won’t prescribe.

@JLeslie: Right.

Like @jca it’s been so long I don’t remember either. I’m pretty sure I got regular well woman checks though. BC doesn’t stand out in the forefront of the reason I went to the ObGyn.

I was 16 when I started the pill, but I had medical care through the military and it’s possible their rules were different. Although, I vaguely remember my roommate in my 20’s having to go every 6 months also. I’m not sure.

Good article about making BC pills OTC.