Posted on 04/10/2019 1:05:31 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
A new proposal in the U.S. Senate would help federal regulators fast-track the approval process for converting hormonal contraceptive pills from prescription to over-the-counter drug status.
Known as the "Allowing Greater Access to Safe and Effective Contraception Act," it was introduced this week by Republican Sens. Joni Ernst (R–Iowa) and Cory Gardner (R–Colo.).
Only the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) can approve the conversion, upon request from a petitioning drug maker. That's why recent movements to "free the pill" in states such as California and Oregon have only been able to dismantle the requirement for a doctor to write the prescription. Now women in these states can theoretically get a prescription on the spot from pharmacists, but it's still not the over-the-counter sales situation that public health bodies recommend.
Congress can't change the status of birth control pills on its own. But the Ernst-Gardner bill would at least speed up the approval process by directing the secretary of Health and Human Services to "give priority review to any supplemental application" submitted "for a contraceptive drug" with respect to routine use. It would also waive the application fee for anyone submitting the application.
French pharmaceutical company HRA Pharma and research group Ibis Reproductive Health announced in late 2016 they were teaming up to "conduct the research needed" to apply for over-the-counter approval of an oral contraceptive pill. "A typical FDA process from the time a drug company begins an application process until a pill is available over the counter is approximately three to five years," Britt Wahlin, vice president for development and public affairs at Ibis, told me last December.
But with priority review possible, that time could be cut down.
The Ernst-Gardner bill also calls for a "repeal of tax on over-the-counter medications." It would accomplish this by allowing funds from health savings accounts to be used for the purchase of not just prescription drugs but over-the-counter medications, too.
Lastly, it would repeal limitations on contributions to flexible spending accounts.
Um, here's an idea, JONI and CORY - work on BUILDING THE WALL!
What a bunch of eyewash. *SPIT*
Aren’t there issues with hormonal/oral contraceptives?
Point being, isn’t it a good thing, for women to see a doctor, and get a prescription? As opposed to having these hormonal drugs available over the counter?
Why the need to change long standing practices, that’s my question.
It is good to know that the GOP, still in control of the Senate, are addressing critical issues related to the Nation’s well-being...
BTW, I take it there's no *personal* interest by these Senators, say, in not getting a girlfriend pregnant?
Seems to me I heard that both the 'borts and the pharmas are actually against this, because women having to have office visits to get OC's helps them vastly inflate their stats for "number of women served" and thus their level of taxpayer-funded subsidies and compensations.
And if it's an OTC rather than a prescription, a lot of insurance plans won't pay for it.
Don't know if this is correct or not. But supposedly this has been thrown out there as a sneaky way for Republicans to both undercut "women's" "clinics" and put more of the responsibiities on the shoulders of individual women, which is supposedly--- as they say in LeftFeminese--- a gratuitously mean cruel Republican idea..
Which may be all hogwash. I don't know. Did anybody else hear this?
Adieu.
Yes and yes. They can cause blood clots which can be fatal.
Anyone who wants to use them ought to be under the care of a COMPETENT doctor (not a PP clinic) and preferably be tested for conditions put one at increased risk. My wife’s specialist told us that 20% of women who get blood clots never make it to the hospital.
One would think the Senate does not have its priorities straight when the Senate’s business is in an item that does not rank in the top 1000 of the Republic’s problems.
Exactly! Are Conservative Women concerned about this being available to their daughters? I find it offensive!
And, Joni has already heard from me. Go back to castrating pigs, not handing our daughters candy pills.
Joni and Cory make me think that being a RINO is a Mental Disease, too!
Yeesh! These people!
“Aren’t there issues with hormonal/oral contraceptives?”
Yes, Sir!
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