Abortion Draft Opinion Reignites Push for Over-the-counter Birth Control

The leaked US Supreme Court draft opinion on abortion rights has spurred additional urgency in efforts to gain FDA approval for over-the-counter birth control. All forms of hormonal birth control have been prescription-only despite several decades of deliberations between pharma companies and the FDA. The upcoming official decision from the courts sets a short timeframe to ensure those in states with anti-abortion “trigger laws” have ready access to the contraceptives.

According to Lauren Gardner of Politico “The culmination of this work comes amid concerns that overturning Roe could disproportionately affect low-income people, as well as younger adults and people of color — the groups that could most benefit from over-the-counter contraception. HRA Pharma expects to seek over-the-counter status for its drug, Hana, later this year, though Cadence is still a couple years away.“

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(Source: Politico, May 6^th, 2022)

Image: Bryancalabro, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons