About half of all pregnancies in the United States are unintended. But if birth control pills were available over the counter and covered by insurance, the rate of unintended pregnancies could drop by as much as 25 percent, according to a study published Friday in the journal Contraception.
The study by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, and the nonprofit Ibis Reproductive Health, found that if women were able to buy the pill at any pharmacy without a prescription and have it covered by their insurance, there would be an 11 percent to 21 percent rise in the number of women using birth control pills, and the rate of unintended pregnancies in the U.S. would drop 7 percent to 25 percent.
“Women who are currently using methods that are less effective than the pill — mainly condoms or nothing — would use it,” said Dan Grossman, author of the study. “Particularly low-income women.”
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Planned Parenthood Action Fund president Cecile Richards said she would applaud making the pill available over the counter.
“We strongly support making birth control available over the counter, as part of our nearly 100-year history of expanding access to birth control,” Richards said. “Every woman in America should have access to the birth control method that’s best for her, without barriers based on cost, availability, stigma, or any other hurdle.”
