Pharmacists in Connecticut now allowed to prescribe birth control

Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont signed into effect on Tuesday a law that will allow pharmacists to prescribe certain contraceptives without the need to see a doctor first. According to NBC Connecticut, Public Act 23-52 aims to ensure wider access to contraception, especially in more rural areas of the state.

Lamont explained, “We should be doing everything we can to ensure patients have access to contraceptives. By enacting this law, we are removing barriers that can sometimes prevent women from accessing birth control. This law acknowledges that pharmacists are vital to our medical system and are at the frontline of care for many patients. This medication is safe and effective, and the pharmacists providing it are well-trained to offer the screening and testing required. As long as I am governor, I will do everything in my power to ensure that Connecticut safeguards access to reproductive care.”

The new legislation states that pharmacists can prescribe both hormonal contraception and emergency birth control once they have completed an accredited educational training program regarding prescribing such drugs.

“Providing women with the opportunity to simply stop by their local pharmacy to be prescribed contraceptives, instead of a primary care provider, will eliminate barriers and drastically expand access, especially for those in rural and underserved areas,” Lt. Governor Susan Bysiewicz said.

But making access to hormonal birth control ‘simple’ is precisely the problem with the law. Hormonal birth control has been shown to increase women’s risks of depression, suicidal impulses, blood clots, pulmonary embolism, heart attack, stroke, certain cancers, decreased bone density, and even infertility. On rare occasions, women have died after taking hormonal birth control, often from pulmonary embolism.

Though pulmonary embolism is rare, it is deadly for the one-third of individuals who are not immediately diagnosed with blood clots that can move from other parts of the body to the lungs. Combination birth control pills carry a risk of pulmonary embolism, especially for women who have pre-existing factors that they may not even be aware of. Even when women are warned about the risk of blood clots with hormonal birth control, they may not know their complete family history to tell the pharmacist, or what the signs and symptoms are of blood clots until it is too late.

Though the American Medical Association opposes independent prescribing of hormonal birth control by pharmacists “without appropriate physician supervision,” the pro-abortion American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists said women have the ability to “self-screen for contraindications to hormonal contraception…” It wants to remove “all barriers for contraception,” calling that the “ultimate goal.”

Connecticut is not alone in its decision to allow pharmacists to prescribe birth control. There are currently 20 other states that allow pharmacists to do so. California led the charge in 2013. Meanwhile, at the federal level, efforts are being made to make hormonal birth control an over-the-counter drug.

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