Georgetown students may complain about the inability to buy any form of birth control on campus, but for some D.C. residents contraceptive medicine is even less accessible. Currently, women seeking birth control pills must get a prescription from a doctor, requiring a potentially expensive visit to an OB-GYN. However, a bill before the D.C. City Council would enable women to obtain the pill directly from a pharmacist. The D.C. Council should pass the bill, ensuring that as many of the District’s women as possible are able to take control of their reproductive health.
The bill, proposed by Councilman David Catania (SFS ’90, LAW ‘94), does not aim to move the pill to the same class of “over-the-counter” medicine as Tylenol and Advil. Instead, the new legislation would require potential buyers to be screened by a trained pharmacist, improving access to the drug but safeguarding against misuse or medical complications.
There is good reason to believe pharmacist-prescribed birth control would not only be safe, but effective. A small-scale study carried out by University of Washington researchers from 2003 to 2005 showed that women used the pill for longer when they could get their prescription from a pharmacist. A more recent report showed that women in El Paso, Texas were more likely to discontinue use of the pills if they were prescribed from a local doctor rather than purchased over-the-counter in Mexico.
The proposed bill is just the first step toward implementing the program, however, and Catania himself admitted that pharmacist-prescribed birth control is “not imminent” in an interview with The Examiner. Even if the bill is passed, the city’s Board of Pharmacy and Board of Medicine would have to jointly develop the regulations and procedures for a program. Such a process would not have to be lengthy. If the legislation passes, there are similar programs in Oregon and Washington state that officials should use as guiding examples.
Fifty years ago, the pill revolutionized reproductive health and signaled vast improvements to women’s quality of life, including increased college graduation rates. If Catania’s legislation passes and pushes through the necessary red tape, it would bring those benefits to the many underprivileged women in the District who currently lack access to the pill. Someday soon, a District woman’s life could be changed by the same trip that Georgetown students consider a burden—a walk to CVS to buy birth control.
