Within weeks, for the first time in the U.S. consumers will be able to find a birth control pill on retail shelves.
Bill Oxford/iStock via Getty Images
Sarah Lynch, Binghamton University, State University of New York
Once available, Opill will be the most effective form of nonprescription birth control on the market. But you should still speak with your health care provider about any questions.
Like natural hormones, known as endogenous hormones, the artificial hormones contained in the pill, known as exogenous hormones, can have effects on the brain.
(Shutterstock)
Oral contraceptives modify the menstrual cycle. What’s less well known is that they also reach the brain, particularly the regions important for regulating emotions.
The Food and Drug Administration has approved the first nonprescription daily birth control pill.
Dimitri Otis/Stone via Getty Images
Sarah Lynch, Binghamton University, State University of New York
The new over-the-counter pill is highly effective at preventing pregnancy but must be taken at the same time daily, which can be a limitation for some people.
The progestin-only pill Opill could be available in early 2024.
Kwangmoozaa/iStock via Getty Images
With the approval of the first over-the-counter oral contraceptive, pharmacists stand to play an ever-increasing role in helping expand access to reproductive health care in the post-Roe era.
The over-the-counter birth control pill will not require medical examinations or prescriptions prior to purchase.
Sergey Mironov/Moment via Getty Images
Some states already allow pharmacists to provide birth control to patients with a prescription. But FDA approval of an over-the-counter birth control pill could greatly expand access.
Menstrual periods can disturb sleep, but sleep troubles can worsen menstrual symptoms.
Catherine McQueen/Getty Images
Prominent GP and former MP Kerryn Phelps has weighed into the doctor-pharmacist turf war, saying pharmacists shouldn’t prescribe because of their financial interests. But the evidence says otherwise.
Contraception forms an integral element of health care for women.
From shutterstock.com
Whether women should need a prescription to get the pill has long been controversial. But making it available over the counter would compromise the provision of comprehensive women’s health care.
More women would favour the pill over less reliable forms of contraception if it was available without prescription.
Image Point Fr/Shutterstock
New modelling shows skipping the need for a doctors’ prescription and going straight to a pharmacist for the pill could save the health system A$96 million a year and improve women’s health outcomes.
Women with endometriosis need evidence-based information to make informed choices about their treatment.
Timothy Paul Smith
Endometriosis is cut or vaporised with an electric current or laser. It ranges from a simple, 20 minute operation to complex surgery involving important organs such as the bowel and bladder.
Men currently only have two contraceptive options: condoms or a vasectomy.
Javier Canales
Male contraceptives have been under development for at least the past 50 years, because of the success of the female pill and pessimism about men taking a pill.
When looking for the right pill, women want to weigh up the cost, safety, efficacy and side effects of the pill.
NordWood Themes
There are more than 30 different types of contraceptive pills. But brand names such as Microgynon, Levlen, Yaz and Brenda give little indication of the ingredients, dose or who should use them.
Women commonly suppress their period around special events and holidays.
Haley Phelps
Women on the pill are able to manipulate or suppress their menstrual cycles to have fewer “periods”, or to avoid bleeding at important or inconvenient times.
Some women are very sensitive to small shifts in oestrogen and progesterone; others aren’t.
from shutterstock.com
Gynaecology Unit Head the Royal Women’s Hospital and Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, The University of Melbourne