Virginia Postrel suggests an easy way to expand access to contraception without risking any imposition on religious institutions: Make oral contraceptives available without a prescription.
True, making the pill available over the counter could reduce the amount of outrage and invective available for entertaining radio audiences, spurring political fundraising and otherwise amusing the American public. But the medical risks are quite low.
Partly because birth-control pills are available only by prescription, people tend to think they’re more dangerous and less well understood than they actually are. In fact, “more is known about the safety of oral contraceptives than has been known about any other drug in the history of medicine,” declared an editorial in the American Journal of Public Health back in 1993. That editorial accompanied an article arguing for over-the-counter sales.
Unlike most medications, the article noted, birth-control pills require no medical diagnosis: “A woman herself determines her need for oral contraception; she assesses her own risk of pregnancy … and the costs and benefits of both pregnancy and alternative contraceptions.” Nearly two decades later, birth- control pills look even safer than they did then, and recent research indicates that women are both able and eager to manage their own purchase decisions.
This approach won’t satisfy those who want others to pay for their contraception, nor will it please those who believe the widespread availability of contraception is a cause of cultural decay. For the rest of us, however, this would seem like a reasonable way to make it cheaper and more convenient for those who wish to use oral contraception to obtain it without any risk of imposing on the religious beliefs of those who believe contraception to be immoral — and for these reasons the likelihood of such a policy being adopted is small.
Brandon says:
You do realize that students pay for their insurance through tuition or employees have insurance partially paid for in the form of wages, right? And that saying that people “want others to pay for their contraception” only makes sense if you use that loaded language to describe any medical care covered by insurance?
I’m not sure how this “compromise” really makes sense because it gives conservative opponents exactly what they want and still results in out-of-pocket costs.
Brandon(Quote)
March 12, 2012, 5:53 pmlosantiville says:
The same argument applies to the rest of the pharmacopia. A reduction in medical costs in general would be achieved by eliminating all prescription requirements. Worked prior to 1912.
losantiville(Quote)
March 12, 2012, 6:11 pmlosantiville says:
Mandates whether State or Federal reduce choices of whoever pays school, employer, employee, or student. BTW most students (except me) are subsidised by govt. I went through law school without stealing from others. K-Grad School are all sucking the govt tit.
Good thing those Republicans will kill Obamacare. Otherwise who knows what HSS Sec Santorum will be ordering those commies to do in the name of “health”.
losantiville(Quote)
March 12, 2012, 6:21 pmShelbyC says:
Students pay the same for insurance whether they use contraception or not. And that “loaded language” only applies to preventative care.
ShelbyC(Quote)
March 12, 2012, 6:57 pmEMB says:
I certainly agree that birth control pills should be available over-the-counter, but treating this as an “end the conflict” suggestion misses a very important point: IUDs and implants are far more effective forms of birth control than the pill (and a health care professional is required to safely install and remove them).
EMB(Quote)
March 12, 2012, 7:40 pmB says:
For most students, insurance is separate from tuition. Many schools offer students coverage through a school plan, but it isn’t part of tuition.
As for those who use contraceptives as contraceptives, rather than for other purposes, insurance can only make them cheaper by subsidizing. Insurance otherwise would simply be prepayment by way of premiums for those who used the product.
B(Quote)
March 12, 2012, 8:45 pm