Birth control pills

Introduction
Who uses the pill
How the pill works
FDA path to over-the-counter (OTC) status
Efforts to move birth control pills to OTC status
FDA approval of first OTC birth control pill: Opill
Pros
- Pro 1: Birth control pills are safe and offer additional health benefits.
- Pro 2: OTC birth control pills would increase access to contraceptives for all women, including low-income and medically under-served populations.
- Pro 3: OTC birth control pills could lower the rate of unintended and teen pregnancies, as well as the abortion rate.
- Pro 4: Women are responsible and knowledgeable enough to care for their own bodies.
Cons
- Con 1: Women who take birth control pills without medical supervision can put themselves at risk.
- Con 2: OTC birth control pills would be the least effective way to increase use of the best contraceptives.
- Con 3: OTC birth control pills could result in more unwanted pregnancies.
- Con 4: OTC birth control pills would decrease privacy.
History of the birth control pill
- Early birth control
- Margaret Sanger and Planned Parenthood
- Invention and rise of the pill
- Birth control boom and key Supreme Court cases
- 21st century
Drugs switched from prescription to over-the-counter status
Prescription status of birth control pills around the world
States that allow pharmacist-dispensed birth control
Assessment quiz
1-minute survey
Discussion questions
Sources

References & Edit History Related Topics

Images

Birth control pills

Open book showing title page and illustration. Left page has a portrait of E. Haldeman-Julius with text identifying him as editor. Right page reads What Every Girl Should Know by Margaret H. Sanger above an illustration of a torch.

Margaret Sanger

Dr. Gregory Pincus

X-ray of the abdomen and pelvis showing the spine, pelvis, and hips, with an intrauterine device visible inside the pelvic cavity.

Birth control pills: Media

Should birth control pills be available over the counter?

Images

Birth control

Birth control

Should birth control medicine be available over the counter (OTC)?

© applezoomzoom/stock.adobe.com

Birth control pills

Birth control pills

The circular pill dispenser common with calendar-dependent drugs.

© Fuse/Thinkstock

Open book showing title page and illustration. Left page has a portrait of E. Haldeman-Julius with text identifying him as editor. Right page reads What Every Girl Should Know by Margaret H. Sanger above an illustration of a torch.

Margaret Sanger

Front and back covers of Margaret Sanger's pamphlet What Every Girl Should...

The Newberry Library, Case HQ57 .S28 (A Britannica Publishing Partner)

Margaret Sanger

Margaret Sanger

Margaret Sanger, 1916.

Bain News Service/Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (LC-DIG-ggbain-23669)

Dr. Gregory Pincus

Dr. Gregory Pincus

American endocrinologist Gregory Pincus whose work research led to the development...

Courtesy of the National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, Maryland

X-ray of the abdomen and pelvis showing the spine, pelvis, and hips, with an intrauterine device visible inside the pelvic cavity.

Intrauterine device.

An X-ray image of KUB (kidney, urinary and bladder) showing an intrauterine device...

© Suttha Burawonk/Shutterstock.com

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