Gender equality is impossible if women cannot control their own reproductive choices.
Joe Biden has addressed this many ways, including putting birth control within the reach of more people.
As the Ibis Reproductive Health Center reported in June:
Last Friday, the Biden Administration issued an executive order, “Strengthening Access to Affordable, High-Quality Contraception and Family Planning Services.”
The executive order includes an explicit directive to the Secretaries of the Treasury, Labor and HHS to explore ways to improve access and affordability for over-the-counter (OTC) contraception.
This is welcome news that we hope will help advance contraceptive equity. We look forward to the administration taking action to meet the President’s directives and address the systemic barriers that have for too long kept people from accessing the care they want and need.
One key way to make birth control pills easier to obtain and pay for is to make them available over the counter. Thus, even women who can’t get to the doctor can control their own fate.
Biden is doing just that!
Politico summarized progress on this ground-breaking initiative earlier this month.
Within weeks of the ruling, a contraceptive maker, which had spent more than six years studying consumers’ ability to use the product correctly without a doctor’s supervision, applied to the [Food and Drug Administration] for over-the-counter approval.
The move: Despite concerns from FDA scientists about consumers’ comprehension of the drug’s proper use and risks, in July 2023 the agency endorsed making the pill available over the counter.
The impact: CVS and Walgreens, two of the country’s biggest retail pharmacies, have pledged to carry the contraceptive, called Opill, once it’s available in early 2024. Reproductive rights advocates say an OTC oral contraceptive will help make birth control access more equitable by reaching people who can’t afford or easily visit a health care provider for a prescription.
The Biden administration is considering requiring no-cost coverage of OTC items like Opill without a prescription by most commercial plans.
Is there still more work to be done? 100%! Lots more work. But Biden did more than many people guessed could be done. He deserves a lot of credit. AND he deserves to be re-elected.
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