The FDA’s outdated prescription rules are failing women and opioid users

KevinMD March 25, 2025
Jeffrey A. Singer, MD

An excerpt from Your Body, Your Health Care.

Tens of millions of American women—more than four out of five women who have had sexual intercourse—have used oral contraceptives, which are crucial for reducing unwanted pregnancies and the incidence of abortion. Obtaining a physician’s prescription can add up to $200 plus time and inconvenience to the cost of “the pill.” Nearly a third of American women who seek prescriptions for oral contraceptives report having difficulty obtaining them, citing nonmonetary obstacles, such as getting to their doctors’ appointments, twice as often as they cite the difficulty of paying for the appointments.

The Institute for Women’s Policy Research recommended in 2000 that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) let women obtain birth control...

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