FAQ: Is It Safe for Pharmacists to Prescribe Birth Control
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Background
In the United States contraception has historically been prescribed by physicians or advanced practice nurses who see patients by appointment. Roughly 65 percent of American women of reproductive age use some form of birth control, and the pill continues to be the most popular form of hormonal birth control among women. However, access to birth control is currently reduced due to high barriers, such as lacking access to doctors or even to family planning clinics that offer low-cost birth control. In fact, over 19 million American women currently live in “contraceptive deserts,” or areas with few-to-no health centers that provide birth control.
One way to address this access problem is to allow pharmacists to prescribe certain methods. And indeed, since 2015, 10 states plus the District of Columbia have begun to allow pharmacists to prescribe contraceptives like the birth control pill, patch and vaginal ring. This pharmacy access model expands birth control access in a way that saves time—pharmacists can prescribe and dispense the prescription—and sensibly increases the scope-of-practice that pharmacists can perform. This model is catching on because it takes advantage of pharmacists’ medication expertise, and because it expands access to safe and effective family planning methods.
Read the full FAQ here.
