The Food and Drug Administration announced this morning that it has granted marketing approval for the over‐the‐counter sale of one type of birth control pill, a progestin-only pill (also called the “minipill”). As explained here, the minipill is not as easy to use as combination oral contraceptives. Dublin‐based Perrigo, the maker of the pill that will have the brand name Opill, states it hopes to have the pill on the market by 2024.
As Josh Bloom and I wrote in May, enabling women to access this one brand of minipill is a ministep in the right direction. But the FDA should allow all women to access all forms of hormonal contraception over‐the‐counter.
Below are other articles I have written on the topic:
- FDA Might Approve Over‐the‐Counter Sales of One Birth Control Pill. Now It’s Time To Approve All the Rest
- Hey FDA, Free the Birth Control Pill!
- OTC Birth Control Pills–Just What The Doctor Ordered
- LA Times: Birth control should be available over the counter. How Congress can make that happen
- NY Daily News: Over‐the‐counter birth control? Bring it on
- Time: Women Should Not Have to Visit a Doctor for Birth Control
#Reprinted with permission. The original blog post can be found here, on the Cato Institute site
Jeffrey Singer
Jeffrey A. Singer is a senior fellow at the Reason Foundation, where he focuses on health care policy and drug policy. He is President Emeritus and founder of Valley Surgical Clinics, Ltd., Arizona's oldest and largest private group surgical practice. From 2017 to 2026, he served as a senior fellow in the Cato Institute's Department of Health Policy Studies and as a Visiting Fellow at the Goldwater Institute. Singer is a member of the Board of Scientific Advisors of the American Council on Science and Health and serves on the expert panel for Doctors for Drug Policy Reform. From 1994 to 2016, he was a regular contributor to Arizona Medicine, the journal of the Arizona Medical Association. He served on the Advisory Board Council of the Center for Political Thought and Leadership at Arizona State University from 2014 to 2018. His writings have appeared in peer-reviewed medical and scientific journals, as well as in publications such as the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, USA Today, The Hill, and National Review. He has been a guest on national and local television and radio. Singer received his BA from Brooklyn College (City University of New York) and his MD from New York Medical College. He is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons.
