Elizabeth Nolan Brown on Making Birth Control Pills Available Over-the-Counter

In many parts of the world, a person can walk into a drugstore
and—without physician oversight or interference—buy a pack of birth
control pills. Perhaps several packs.  But not so in America,
where the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been considering
making oral contraceptives available over-the-counter (OTC) for
more than twenty years. What’s the hold up? Emergency
contraception, a more potent dose of the same hormones that make up
regular birth control pills, is now available without a
prescription. There’s no good medical justification for the
differentiation, and no reason to tie the pill to yearly doctor’s
visits. Elizabeth Nolan Brown looks at why oral contraception
in America remain stubbornly behind the pharmacy counter and behind
the times. 

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