MassLive | Pharmacist-prescribed hormonal birth control rolled into Mass. budget compromise
Story originally appeared in MassLive
Massachusetts is likely to join dozens of other states in allowing pharmacists to prescribe contraceptives such as birth control patches and pills.
A bill to allow this, also known as H.2133, was rolled into the state House version of the budget, expected to be passed on Monday as a part of a budget compromise, according to state Rep. Lindsay Sabadosa, who sponsored the original bill with state Rep. Christine Barber.
The bill, supported by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, had was included in the Senate-passed version of the budget in mid-May.Read more: Mass. negotiators finally reached a budget compromise; here’s what’s inside.
The budget bill is expected to head to Governor Maura Healey’s office to be signed.
There are 29 states and the District of Columbia that currently offer contraceptives such as birth control, according to NBC News.Read more: Pharmacists may be able to prescribe hormonal birth control if this Mass. bill passes.
According to a 2016 study published in the Journal of Women’s Health, one-third of adult U.S. women who have ever tried to obtain prescription contraception reported access barriers.
Rebecca Hart Holder, president of Reproductive Equity Now, said women often face unnecessary clinical visits or examination requirements which prevents individuals from being able to get birth control, especially with a healthcare system which is backed up due to staffing shortages or from the aftermath of the pandemic.“The fact that you can’t get a visit with your clinician should not be a barrier to getting birth control,” Hart Holder said.
Massachusetts has already passed a couple of pieces of legislation related to contraception access, including the Protecting Access to Confidential Health Care (PATCH) Act, which allows patients to request a summary of a payment form for their health insurance sent directly to them instead of the policyholder, and the Advancing Contraceptive Coverage and Economic Security in our State (ACCESS) Act, which provides eligible individuals to be prescribed one year’s supply of prescription birth control at no cost and emergency contraception at no cost.
At the federal level, however, the likelihood of a federal law passing in Congress guaranteeing access to birth control remains grim, according to Sabadosa.U.S. Senator Edward J. Markey, D-Mass, and U.S. Representative Kathy Manning, D-N.C., reintroduced the “Right to Contraception Act,” also known as H.R.8373, which would allow all Americans the legal right to access any FDA-approved birth control, however, it was blocked on the Senate floor for the second time in June.As of June 1, 2023, the Guttmacher Institute found that nine states have emergency contraception restrictions.
“Birth control gives people the ability to make deeply intimate decisions about when and whether to become a parent. It allows them to control their reproductive destiny and it allows them to decide when and how to start a family,” said Hart Holder.