Boston Business Journal | Reproductive Equity Now releases guidance for people seeking emergency contraception without a doctor Email Share Share Tweet Order Reprints

Story Originally Appeared in the Boston Business Journal
By Cassie McGrath

Reproductive Equity Now, a Boston-based nonprofit, has released a toolkit to help people access the right emergency contraception for them—and is providing a roadmap for other states to follow.

In its toolkit, an online document of resources, REN aims to provide insight into treatment for people hoping to access emergency contraception, now that is is no longer necessary to get a prescription or pay out of pocket.

For example, while the option "Plan B" has become synonymous with emergency contraception, there are less-known options that may be more suitable, Rebecca Hart Holder, executive director of REN, said. Another option, ella, works well for people up to 195 pounds, where Plan B One-Step is most effective for people under 165 pounds. ella is also more effective, according to REN, and can be taken up to five days after intercourse, while Plan B can only be taken for up to three days after.

In July, the Massachusetts legislature passed a statewide standing order for emergency contraception, which authorizes pharmacies to dispense the medication without a prescription from a provider. This same tactic is used to make the flu vaccine widely accessible. The standing order also eliminates copays for treatments, making them much more accessible.

Before the law was passed, people who needed emergency contraception would head to a local pharmacy and purchase over the counter emergency contraceptives, like Plan B. However, without a prescription from a provider, the treatment usually costs $40 out of pocket. But with a standing order in place for emergency contraception, people can access the medication immediately through their insurance.

Some options, like ella, were completely unavailable without a prescription, but now that there's a standing order, people can get it without one, eliminating a barrier to access.

“We really felt like the only way to fix the issue that people were facing in practice with the access law was to have the state issue a statewide standing order,” Hart Holder said. “With that standing order, people would be able to get either a Plan B, and its generics or ella and its generics, copay free at the point of sale without a prescription from their provider.”

A post-Roe America

Another focus of the toolkit is to create a roadmap for other states to follow, which it does in its advocacy section. The standing order, Hart Holder said, is something other states should explore.

“In a post-Roe America, blue, purple and red states have to work together and really share resources and learn from one another's success in order to be very kind of forward thinking and the policies that we’re putting forward,” Hart Holder said. “The EC standing order is a really effective intervention that could even work in purple states, right? It's a way to prevent pregnancy and to keep people from needing abortion care, which is especially important at a time when we're losing access to care.”

Hart Holder added that self insured plans are not subject to the access law because they're not governed by state law. Still, she said, that to the extent that they can, businesses that have self insured plans should follow the standing order mandate.

"It sets a really important precedent about how important full access with no copay is to contraception, even though they're not subject to the law itself. It's a statement about about the critical nature of reproductive health care to all employees," she said.