Woman's Health Health, Medicine, Nursing Research

Woman's Health
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Woman's Health
Should oral contraceptives (birth control pills) be available over the counter?
Enabling oral contraceptives (OC) to be available over the counter (OTC) can effectively reduce barriers to use. Oral contraceptives are comprising of combined oral contraceptives (COC) and progesterone-only pills (POP) as effective methods in family planning (Kennedy et al., 2019). While some countries have allowed the medication over the counter, other countries have restricted access to oral contraceptives via an eligibility criteria using trained pharmacy workers before dispensation or a healthcare worker's referral. Following the rising numbers of unintended pregnancies, which have been estimated at 44%, there is the need to enable oral contraceptives to be available over the counter (Kennedy et al., 2019). Unintended pregnancies can adversely affect both partners. For instance, if a family with five kids gets a sixth child without planning or by mistake due to a lack of contraceptives, they w...