First over-the-counter birth control pill hits store shelves
Opill, the first birth control pill approved for people to buy without a prescription, is now on shelves at some Walgreens stores. It's expected at CVS and Walmart in early April.
Opill, the first birth control pill approved to be sold without a prescription, has landed on shelves at some Walgreens stores.
The pill is also available to order online from Amazon, CVS, Walgreens and the Opill website.
It’s the first time that U.S. residents are able to buy birth control pills over the counter — the same way they would purchase Tylenol or Advil — though many states allow pharmacists to dispense birth control pills to patients without a prescription.
Sriha Srinivasan, 21, said she plans to start taking Opill as soon as she can find it at a store near her home in Fairfield, California — both for its convenience and because she wants to support a product that’s expanding access to contraception.
Srinivasan is a contraceptives activist with Advocates for Youth, a nonprofit organization that focuses on young people’s sexual and reproductive health. She said she tried to schedule appointments at local clinics to get a birth control prescription last year, only to find out that the earliest slots were months away, during her final exams.
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