Women should be able to buy birth control over the counter when they need to. There are too many barriers to care that prevent women from this basic luxury. 

The idea of having to go through a doctor to get a prescription and prove you need birth control and then go on a trip to the pharmacy to pick it up is classist. First of all it disadvantages those who are without insurance. If you don’t have insurance, a trip to the doctor can be out of the question due to the cost. So unless healthcare is made accessible, birth control should at least be easily accessible. People shouldn’t have to go broke because they need birth control. 

Additionally, it must be kept in mind that not everyone can miss work to go to the doctor and then the pharmacy. Going to the doctor doesn’t just mean spending money but then going on to lose money through lost wages. It’s two separate trips that could just be one of going to the pharmacy. 

This whole process to go through, even if you don’t have to worry about the cost, is still unfair. It reveals the sexism around the process by giving another way for women to lack power. People know when they need birth control, whether for its namesake of preventing a pregnancy or for period related issues. Either way it is valid to want the pill, and it shouldn’t be up in the air for others with their own personal biases to control.

Women should be able to decide for themselves if birth control is the right option for them. 

By creating this whole system it deters women from going through the process of getting it.

For all those who hate the idea of abortion should in turn love the idea of providing birth control over-the-counter. After all if women have equal access to birth control, then there will be less unintended pregnancies, lowering the abortion rate. So unless the idea of abortion and easily accessible birth control is still offensive because the point of making both hard to get is due to a desire to control women’s reproductive freedom, then it should be a slam dunk. 

Women’s health experts agree that birth control should be over-the-counter because there are few risks to it. Those risks and consultation can be done by the pharmacist before it is bought. Many concerns fall around blood pressure, but that again can be measured by the pharmacist.

The fact that birth control has all the bumps on the way to get it does not make sense, and only keeps women from getting it. Everyone deserves to have power over their healthcare and a first step is providing birth control over-the-counter.