This Pill Could Become the U.S.'s First Over-the-Counter Daily Birth Control

U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisers will meet this spring to discuss allowing the over-the-counter sale of Opill, a daily birth control pill.

As NBC News reported, Opill is a progestin-only medication, or mini pill, manufactured by the French drug company HRA Pharma. The drug was approved for pregnancy prevention by the FDA in 1973, but it’s currently only available with a doctor’s prescription. If the FDA green-lights Opill for sale without a prescription, it would become the U.S.’s first OTC daily contraceptive pill — and greatly expand access to birth control nationwide. (Finally, some hopeful reproductive health news!)

In a 2018 report, the American Medical Association called for birth control pills to be sold OTC. This would remove barriers for people who are uninsured, underinsured, or otherwise unable to get a prescription from a healthcare provider.

Other major medical associations, including the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the American Academy of Family Physicians, have echoed this stance.

Oral contraceptive drugs like Opill are typically taken daily, around the same time each day. Other forms of birth control include non-hormonal pills, gels, shots, patches, and IUDs.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 45 percent of pregnancies in the U.S. are unintended. The agency also estimates that 60 percent of Americans who can get pregnant have an “ongoing or potential need” for contraceptive services.