The background and pro and con arguments were written by ProCon.org staff based upon input from the following sources.
Footnotes:
1. | Guttmacher Institute, “Contraceptive Use in the United States,” guttmacher.org, July 2018 | |
2. | Jo Jones, William Mosher, and Kimberly Daniels, “Current Contraceptive Use in the United States, 2006-2010, and Changes in Patterns of Use since 1995,” cdc.gov, Oct. 18, 2012 | |
3. | Katie Klabusich, “Advocates Set Sights on OTC Birth Control Pill on World Contraception Day,” rewire.news, Sep. 26, 2017 | |
4. | Bedsider, “Should the Pill Be Available Over the Counter?,” bedsider.org, Mar. 6, 2015 | |
5. | Joe Speidel, “Risky Business: Is Birth Control Safe?,” bedsider.org, Jan. 6, 2012 | |
6. | Elisabeth Rosenthal, “Is It Time for Off-the-Shelf Birth-Control Pills?,” nytimes.com, Apr. 20, 2013 | |
7. | Gabrielle Moss, “70 Percents of Americans Want Over-the-Counter Birth Control, and That’s Not So Crazy Considering You Can Easily Buy These 5 Drugs Already,” bustle.com, Oct. 22, 2014 | |
8. | Miranda Hitti, “Plan B One-Step: Seven Questions and Answers,” webmd.com, Nov. 29, 2007 | |
9. | Walgreens, “What’s the Difference between Emergency Contraceptives, Such as Plan B One-Step and Regular Birth Control Pills?,” walgreens.com (accessed Aug. 28, 2018) | |
10. | OCs OTC Working Group, “Global Oral Contraception Availability,” ocsotc.org/world-map (accessed Mar. 18, 2022) | |
11. | Suzannah Weiss, “New Mexico Becomes the Fourth State to Let Pharmacists Prescribe Birth Control,” glamour.com, June 13, 2017 | |
12. | Alyssa Kennedy, Jess Zuo, and Navya Dasari “The Over-the-Counter Birth Control Debate,” upenn.edu, Mar. 31, 2016 | |
13. | Diana G. Foster, et al., “Potential Public Sector Cost-Savings from Over-the-Counter Access to Oral Contraceptives,” contraceptionjournal.org, May 2015 | |
14. | National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health, “Over-the-Counter Birth Control Will Benefit Latina Health,” latinainstitute.org, Nov. 20, 2012 | |
15. | Neesha Powell, “Why We Need to Talk about Queer and Trans People and Birth Control,” medium.com, Dec. 2, 2017 | |
16. | Kellan Baker and Laura E. Durso, “Why Repealing the Affordable Care Act Is Bad Medicine for LGBT Communities,” americanprogress.org, Mar. 22, 2017 | |
17. | Adam Sonfield and Kathryn Kost, “Public Costs from Unintended Pregnancies and the Role of Public Insurance Programs in Paying for Pregnancy-Related Care: National and State Estimates for 2010,” guttmacher.org, Feb. 2015 | |
18. | DG Foster, et al., “Number of Oral Contraceptive Pill Packages Dispensed and Subsequent Unintended Pregnancies,” Obstetrics & Gynecology, Mar. 2011 | |
19. | JE Potter, et al., “Continuation of Prescribed Compared with Over-the-Counter Oral Contraceptives,” ncbi.nlm.nih.gov, Mar. 2011 | |
20. | Laura Lindberg, John Santelli, and Sheila Desai, “Understanding the Decline in Adolescent Fertility in the United States, 2007-2012,” Journal of Adolescent Health, Nov. 2016 | |
21. | Johns Hopkins Medicine, “Experts Find Strong Case for Over-the-Counter Oral Contraceptives for Adults and Teens,” hopkinsmedicine.org, Mar. 14, 2017 | |
22. | Juell B. Homco, et al., “Reasons for Ineffective Pre-Pregnancy Contraception Use in Patients Seeking Abortion Services,” Contraception, Aug. 9, 2011 | |
23. | American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, “Committee Opinion Number 615, January 2015,” acog.org, 2017 | |
24. | Joerg Dreweke, “New Clarity for the U.S. Abortion Debate: A Steep Drop in Unintended Pregnancy Is Driving Recent Abortion Declines,” guttmacher.org, Mar. 18, 2016 | |
25. | Emily M. Johnston, Brigette Courtot, and Genevieve M. Kenney, “Access to Contraception in 2016 and What It Means to Women,” urban.org, Jan. 2017 | |
26. | National Cancer Institute, “Oral Contraceptives and Cancer Risk,” cancer.gov (accessed Aug. 21, 2018) | |
27. | Planned Parenthood, “What Are the Benefits of the Birth Control Pill?,” plannedparenthood.org (accessed Aug. 21, 2018) | |
28. | Jennifer Rainey Marquez, “Other Benefits of Birth Control Pills,” webmd.com, Dec. 14, 2015 | |
29. | Valerie Tarico, “10 Bonus Health Benefits of Birth Control,” huffingtonpost.com, Feb. 9, 2015 | |
30. | Jessi Phillips, “What Happened When We Tried to Get Over-the-Counter Birth Control in California,” broadly.vice.com, Apr. 27, 2016 | |
31. | Pam Belluck and Sabrina Tavernise, “States Lead Effort to Let Pharmacists Prescribe Birth Control,” nytimes.com, Nov. 22, 2015 | |
32. | S. Shotorbani, et al., “Agreement between Women’s and Provider’s Assessment of Hormonal Contraceptive Risk Factors,” Contraception, May 2006 | |
33. | Ibis Reproductive Health, “Border Contraceptive Access Study,” ibisreproductivehealth.org (accessed Aug. 21, 2018) | |
34. | OCs OTC Working Group, “FAQs,” ocsotc.org (accessed Aug. 22, 2018) | |
35. | Ibis Reproductive Health, “A National Survey of US Women’s Interest in Over-the-Counter Access to Oral Contraceptives,” ocsotc.org, June 2013 | |
36. | Daniel Grossman, et al., “Interest in Over-the-Counter Access to Oral Contraceptives among Women in the United States,” Contraception, Oct. 201337 | |
37. | Adam Sonfield, Kinsey Hasstedt, Megan L. Kavanaugh, and Ragnar Anderson, “The Social and Economic Benefit of Women’s Ability to Determine Whether and When to Have Children,” guttmacher.org, Mar. 2013 | |
38. | Jeffrey A. Singer, “Free Birth Control from the Third-Party Trap,” cato.org, Sep. 1, 2017 | |
39. | Kaiser Family Foundation, “Women’s Health Insurance Coverage,” kff.org, Oct. 31, 2017 | |
40. | Adam Sonfield, “Contraceptive Coverage at the U.S. Supreme Court: Countering the Rhetoric with Evidence,” guttmacher.org, Mar. 7, 2014 | |
41. | American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, “ACOG Statement on Pharmacist Prescribing Laws,” acog.org, Jan. 4, 2016 | |
42. | OCs OTC Working Group, “Statement of Purpose,” ocsotc.org (accessed Aug. 22, 2018) | |
43. | American Public Health Association, “Improving Access to Over the Counter Contraception by Expanding Insurance Coverage,” apha.org, Nov. 1, 2011 | |
44. | Jennifer McIntosh, et al., “Changing Oral Contraceptives from Prescription to Over-the-Counter Status: An Opinion Statement of the Women’s Health Practice and Research Network of the American College of Clinical Pharmacy,” accp.com, 2011 | |
45. | Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, “Women’s Health Insurance Coverage,” kff.org, Oct. 31, 2017 | |
46. | National Women’s Law Center, “New Data Estimate 62.8 Million Women Have Coverage of Birth Control without Out-of-Pocket Costs,” nwlc.org, Nov. 6, 2018 | |
47. | Amelia Harnish, “Is Over-the-Counter Birth Control a Good Idea?,” refinery29.com, Jan. 31, 2017 | |
48. | Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux, “Offering Birth Control Over the Counter Wouldn’t Make It Any Cheaper,” fivethirtyeight.com, Nov. 18, 2014 | |
49. | Gregor Aisch and Bill Marsh, “How Likely Is It That Birth Control Could Let You Down?,” nytimes.com, Sep. 13, 2014 | |
50. | Robin Marty, “10 Things Every Woman Should Know about Over-the-Counter Birth Control,” cosmopolitan.com, Oct. 9, 2014 | |
51. | Suzanne Batchelor, “Fewer Pelvic Exams for Teens Seeking Birth Control,” womensnews.org, Jan. 15, 2004 | |
52. | Brittney McNamara, “7 Birth Control Myths That Are Definitely Putting You at Risk of Pregnancy,” teenvogue.com, May 31, 2016 | |
53. | Peter Arcidiacono, Ahmed Khwaja, and Lijing Ouyang, “Habit Persistence and Teen Sex, Could Increased Access to Contraception Have Unintended Consequences for Teen Pregnancies?,” semanticsscholar.org, Jan. 22, 2011 | |
54. | American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, “Debate to Consider if America’s Ready for OTC Birth Control,” annualmeeting.acog.org, 2017 | |
55. | Harris Interactive, “Attitudes and Beliefs about the Use of Over-the-Counter Medicines: A Dose of Reality,” bemedwise.org, Jan. 2002 | |
56. | Deane B. Cheatham and Michael S. Wogalter, “Reported Liklihood of Reading Over-the-Counter (OTC) Medication Labeling and Contacting a Physician,” safetyhumanfactors.org, 2002 | |
57. | Miami Center of Excellence, “Over 35? It’s Time to Reevaluate Your Birth Control Method,” miamiobgyns.com (accessed Sep. 18, 2018) | |
58. | Joe Speidal, “Risky Business 2: Migraines, High Blood Pressure, and Blood Clots,” bedsider.org, June 15, 2016 | |
59. | Sarah Watts, “An Over-the-Counter Pill Isn’t Safe,” thedailybeast.com, June 15, 2015 | |
60. | WebMD, “Medicines That Interfere with Birth Control Pills,” webmd.com, Dec. 4, 2017 | |
61. | Maria Isabel Rodriguez, “Which Medications Can Mess with Birth Control?,” bedsider.org, Aug. 22, 2017 | |
62. | Guttmacher Institute, “Many American Women Use Birth Control Pills for Noncontraceptive Reasons,” guttmacher.org, Nov. 15, 2011 | |
63. | Olivia Alperstein, “From the Left: Birth Control Should Be Free, Not Over the Counter,” insidesources.com, July 16, 2017 | |
64. | ACLU, “Preventing Teenagers from Getting Contraceptives Unless They Tell a Parent Puts Teens at Risk,” aclu.org (accessed Sep. 19, 2018) | |
65. | Sneha Barot, “Moving Oral Contraceptives to Over-the-Counter Status: Policy Versus Politics,” guttmacher.org, Nov. 5, 2015 | |
66. | Katie Mui, “Here’s How to Get Birth Control without a Doctor’s Prescription,” goodrx.com, Feb. 13, 2018 | |
67. | Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health, “Making a One-Year Supply of Birth Control a National Standard,” bixbycenter.ucef.efu (accessed Sep. 19, 2018) | |
68. | SC Landau, MP Tapias, and BT McGhee, “Birth Control within Reach: A National Survey on Women’s Attitudes toward and Interest in Pharmacy Access to Hormonal Contraception,” Contraception, Dec. 2006 | |
69. | Free the Pill, “Who Prescribes the Pill Online?,” freethepill.org (accessed Sep. 19, 2018) | |
70. | Nurx, homepage, nurx.com (accessed Sep. 19, 2018) | |
71. | Lemonaid, homepage, lemonaidhealth.com (accessed Sep. 19, 2018) | |
72. | Pandia Health, homepage, pandiahealth.com (accessed Sep. 19, 2018) | |
73. | Casey Gueren, “Should Birth Control Be Over the Counter?,” womenshealthmag.com, Oct. 31, 2014 | |
74. | FDA, “Birth Control Guide,” fda.gov (accessed Sep. 20, 2018) | |
75. | Sarah Elizabeth Richards, “Why Over-the-Counter Birth Control Could Actually Lead to More Unwanted Pregnancies,” latimes.com, May 28, 2016 | |
76. | Daniel Grossman and Kate Grindlay Kelly, “These Birth Control Pills Should Be Available without a Prescription,” teenvogue.com, Feb. 2, 2018 | |
77. | Kelli Stidham Hall, James Trussell, and Eleanor Bimla Schwarz, “Progestin-Only Contraceptive Pill Use among Women in the United States,” Contraception, Dec. 2012 | |
78. | Holly Grigg-Spall, Sweetening the Pill, or How We Got Hooked on Hormonal Birth Control, 2013 | |
79. | Lara Briden, “Why Young Teens Need Real Periods–Not the Pill,” menstruationresearch.org, Sep. 8, 2015 | |
80. | Consumer Healthcare Products Association (CHPA), “FAQs about Rx-to-OTC Switch,” chpa.org (accessed Oct. 15, 2018) | |
81. | Kirsten M.J. Thompson, “A Brief History of Birth Control in the U.S.,” ourbodiesourselves.org, Dec. 14, 2013 | |
82. | Andrea Tone, Devices & Desires: A History of Contraceptives in America, 2001 | |
83. | Lisa Fogarty, “What Birth Control Was Like in Every Decade since the 1900s,” redbookmag.com, Apr. 12, 2017 | |
84. | Joan M. Jensen, “The Evolution of Margaret Sanger’s Family Limitation Pamphlet, 1914-1921,” Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 1981 | |
85. | Emma McGowan, “11 Crucial Moments in the History of the Reproductive Rights Movement,” bustle.com, June 12, 2017 | |
86. | Jennifer Latson, “Why Birth Control Pioneer Margaret Sanger Kept Getting Arrested,” time.com, Oct. 16, 2015 | |
87. | PBS, “Anthony Comstock’s ‘Chastity’ Laws,” pbs.org (accessed Nov. 28, 2018) | |
88. | Rachel Port, “Hobby Lobby: Birth Control and the Law,” advocatesaz.org, Oct. 22, 2014 | |
89. | Margaret Sanger Papers Project, “Jan. 2, 1923 First Legal Birth Control Clinic Opens in U.S.,” sangerpapers.wordpress.com, Feb. 12, 2014 | |
90. | Jonathan Eig, The Birth of the Pill: How Four Crusaders Reinvented Sex and Launched a Revolution, 2014 | |
91. | Time Magazine, “Medicine: Birth Control Raid,” time.com, Apr. 29, 1929 | |
92. | Margaret Sanger, “The Status of Birth Control: 1938,” newrepublic.com, Apr. 19, 1938 | |
93. | Theodora R. Moses, “American Birth Control League,” britannica.com (accessed July 10, 2018) | |
94. | Dorothy Roberts, Killing the Black Body: Race, Reproduction, and the Meaning of Liberty, 1997 | |
95. | CDC, “Population by Age Groups, Race, and Sex for 1960-97,” cdc.gov (accessed Oct. 15, 2018) | |
96. | ACLU, “Timeline of Important Reproductive Freedom Cases Decided by the Supreme Court,” aclu.org (accessed Apr. 23, 2018) | |
97. | Case Western Reserve University, “Intrauterine Device (IUD),” case.edu (accessed May 7, 2018) | |
98. | Linda J. Piccinino and William D. Mosher, “Trends in Contraceptive Use in the United States: 1982-1995,” guttmacher.org, Jan./Feb. 1998 | |
99. | Adam Liptak, “Supreme Court Rejects Contraceptives Mandate for Some Corporations,” nytimes.com, June 20, 2014 | |
100. | SCOTUS Blog, “Little Sisters of the Poor Home for the Aged v. Burwell,” scotusblog.com (accessed July 10, 2018) | |
101. | Heather Munro Prescott, The Morning After: A History of Emergency Contraception in the United States, 2011 | |
102. | A. Dekhtyar, “A Difficult Proposition: Oral Contraceptives’ Switch from Prescription to Over-the-Counter Status,” dash.harvard.edu, 1997 | |
103. | Rob Stein, “Plan B Use Surges, And So Does Controversy,” washingtonpost.com, July 13, 2007 | |
104. | American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, “Committee Opinion,” acog.org, Dec. 2012 | |
105. | Bobby Jindal, “The End of Birth-Control Politics,” wsj.com, Dec. 13, 2012 | |
106. | Charlotte Alter, “Why Over-the-Counter Birth Control Is Stalled,” time.com, Dec. 23, 2015 | |
107. | Daniel Grossman, “Birth Control Pills Should Not Be Prescription-Only,” latimes.com, June 19, 2015 | |
108. | Mia Love, “H.R.5138 – Over-the-Counter Contraceptives Act of 2016,” congress.gov (accessed Oct. 25, 2018) | |
109. | Tammy Duckworth, “H.R.3163 – Affordability Is Access Act,” congress.gov (accessed Oct. 25, 2018) | |
110. | Ibis Reproductive Health, “Ibis Announces Groundbreaking Partnership with HRA Pharma to Move a Birth Control Pill Over the Counter,” ibisreproductivehealth.org, Dec. 2016 | |
111. | Amie Newman, “Over-the-Counter Birth Control Pill on It’s Way to the U.S.A.,” ourbodiesourselves.org, Jan. 9, 2017 | |
112. | Mayo Clinic, “MiniPill (Progestin-Only Birth Control Pill),” mayoclinic.org, Mar. 2, 2018 | |
113. | American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, “Progestin-Only Hormonal Birth Control: Pill and Injection,” acog.org, Mar. 2018 | |
114. | Amanda Nottke, “Taming the Cycle: How Does the Pill Work?,” sitn.hms.harvard.edu, Mar. 15, 2018 | |
115. | Mayo Clinic, “Combination Birth Control Pills,” mayoclinic.org, Nov. 15, 2017 | |
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117. | FDA, “Now Available without a Prescription,” fda.gov, May 4, 2016 | |
118. | Consumer Healthcare Products Association (CHPA), “Ingredients & Dosages Transferred From Rx-to-OTC Status (or New OTC Approvals) by the Food and Drug Administration Since 1975,” chpa.org, Jan. 3, 2018 | |
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121. | World Health Organization, "Women of Reproductive Age (15-49 Years) Population, Thousands," who.int (accessed Mar. 17, 2022) | |
122. | Caroline Medina and Lindsay Mahowald, "Repealing the Affordable Care Act Would Have Devastating Impacts on LGBTQ People," americanprogress.org, Oct. 15, 2020 | |
123. | Office of Population Affairs, US Health and Human Services, "Trends in Teen Pregnancy and Childbearing," hhs.gov (accessed Mar. 17, 2022) | |
124. | Michael F. Cannon and Jeffrey A. Singer, "Birth Control Should Be Available Over the Counter. How Congress Can Make That Happen," cato.org, Jan. 27, 2020 | |
125. | Kaiser Family Foundation, "Women's Health Insurance Coverage," kff.org, Nov. 08, 2021 | |
126. | National Women's Law Center, "Access to Birth Control without Out-of-Pocket Costs: Improving and Expanding the Affordable Care Act's Contraceptive Coverage Requirement," nwlc.org (accessed Mar. 22, 2022) | |
127. | Guttmacher Institute, "Pharmacist-Prescribed Contraceptives," guttmacher.org, Mar. 1, 2022 | |
128. | Perrigo Company plc, “Perrigo’s HRA Pharma Submits Application to FDA for First-Ever OTC Birth Control Pill,” prnewswire.com, July 11, 2022 | |
129. | Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Kate Kelly, “F.D.A. to Weigh Over-the-Counter Sale of Contraceptive Pills,” nytimes.com, July 11, 2022 | |
130. | Pam Belluck, "The F.D.A. Now Says It Plainly: Morning-After Pills Are Not Abortion Pills," nytimes.com, Dec. 23, 2022 |