The United States on Thursday authorized the sale of birth control pills without a prescription for the first time in the country, hoping to make them more widely available.
And the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that Opill will be available in pharmacies, neighborhood stores and supermarkets, as well as through electronic sales.
Several countries already allow the sale of birth control pills without a prescription, but in the United States, this measure comes as the right to abortion is subject to new campaigns from conservatives and is now banned in several states.
And the Medicines Agency wrote in a statement that this decision is supposed to “reduce barriers to access” to this contraceptive method by allowing access to it “without having to go to a doctor’s office.”
“If used as directed, daily oral contraceptives are safe and more effective in preventing unwanted pregnancies than currently available over-the-counter contraceptives,” said Patricia Cavazoni, an official with the US Food and Drug Administration.
The pills, made by HRA Pharma, which Perrigo recently acquired, were licensed in the US with a prescription several years ago.
