How Women Feel About an Over-the-Counter Birth Control Pill
An over-the-counter pill would eliminate a lot of barriers, she said.
Nearly half of all pregnancies in the United States are unintended. Rates are highest among women in their twenties. The move to greenlight Opill, which is commonly known as a mini pill because it contains only progestin, is “a total game changer” for that demographic, said Dr. Elise Berlan, a physician at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, who served as an independent scientific adviser to the F.D.A. when it was debating Opill’s approval.
For young people, accessing birth control can be “really challenging,” she said. “Sexual health education is very spotty, so there are a lot of people who just don’t have very good information,” she added. And it’s further complicated “for folks who are low-income, who have transportation issues or who live in rural parts of the U.S.”
A survey conducted last year by KFF, a research company, found that 77 percent of women 18 to 49 favored the decision to make a pill available without a prescription. Thirty-nine percent said they would be likely to use it, citing convenience as the main reason. Of those who said they probably would not use it, the main reason was that they did not have plans to use oral contraception; the second-most-cited reason was that they would want to first discuss it with a provider.
The New York Times interviewed 18 women and girls about the F.D.A. decision on Thursday and Friday. Some teenagers noted that having access to the pill in a store would be helpful for those who did not feel comfortable speaking with their parents about contraception. “My mom does not approve of birth control” because of her more conservative Sri Lankan heritage, said Tharushi Samarasinghe, a 19-year-old student at Hunter College. “I took birth control once for hormonal issues as I was going through puberty. I was on it for a year and then my mom was like, ‘No more.’”
Elizabeth, 18, said she was wary about the potential side effects of the mini pill, but described it as a great option for someone like her, whose parents were “pretty conservative.” She added: “They raised me in a Catholic church. I’m not comfortable talking to them about this.” (She requested that her last name be withheld to avoid potential conflict with her family.)
Source: The New York Times
