We begin with a major expansion with women’s healthcare in the United States. Federal health officials today approved first-ever over-the-counter birth control pill. The FDA decision means the drug Opill will soon be made available to millions of Americans without a prescription. Women’s health advocates are hailing today’s news as an important step in reproductive rights in the wake of last year’s Supreme Court decision that overturned R.V.W. More than half the country has banned or limited abortion access since the Supreme Court ruling. Opill will become the most effective birth control method available over the counter. Currently, an estimated ten million women in the US use prescription birth control pills.

This is unprecedented and it is the game changer for reproductive healthcare. The easier access is likely to have the biggest impact on tens of millions of teen girls and lower income women who may not have a doctor. The daily pill called Opill, which has been available in this country by prescription for fifty years, could be on store shelves without a prescription by early next year. More than three quarter of US women under age fifty in recent survey said they wanted birth control pills available without a prescription if deemed safe and effective. They’re already available over-the-counter in more than one hundred countries. The move was opposed by the Catholic Medical Association. The approval comes as the increased focus on birth control since last year’s overturning of R.V.W. The FDA reports, of the more than six million pregnancies in the US each year, almost half are unintended. Opill contains the hormone progestin and must be taken at the same time every day to be effective. Common side effects irregular bleeding, headaches, dizziness, and nausea, as with many birth control pills. French drug maker Perrigo hasn’t announced a price for the pills, which are sold in 28-day packs, but says it will make them affordable and provide Opill at no cost to those can’t pay.