Should birth control pills be sold without a prescription?

[soren7550]

Ehh... not really. Since there's so many different types that all effect women very differently, this is something that a doctor should figure out which is right for you so that it'll work right for you. I mean, It's not like ibuprofen, which is basic enough where you don't need a prescription for it and it doesn't do that much anyway.

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

There have been some side-effects reported and it varies between people, so yes, you should need a prescription, but no, prescriptions should not be hard to get barring actual medical problems.

 

[FoolKiller]

Also, (even though I have coverage), a 3-month supply is $70, which is stupidly expensive.

That's not even close to expensive but I guess it depends on how active you are. Condoms are way more expensive. One 12 pack is 10 to 12 dollars after tax. Either way, the best way to think about it is how expensive having a kid is. Then it seems worth it.

So while you have a steady rate, the condom is a pay as you go rate. Hmm... its like cell phones. That brings up an interesting point. People are willing to drop $50 a month on average for their cell phones but don't want to pay under $25 to avoid the children. Curious.

 

[likalaruku]

I heard they really f**k with your body chemistry & have some unhealthy side effects. Then again...so does everything else approved by the FDA.

 

[Something Amyss]

a 3-month supply is $70, which is stupidly expensive.

And thus, my jealousy. That "stupid expensive" price is a one month supply here. And honestly, that's still pretty freaking cheap for a drug in the US.

Anyway, hormones are serious business and you don't want to have people going on a hormonal treatment without medical supervision. What scares me is how this country has decided it's okay for "morality" to intervene in the course of doing someone's job. And pretty much only when it comes to a woman's body. If someone opted to not prescribe heart medication (or to fill it) because the death of the patient was "God's will," we'd fire them. But when it comes to birth control, you can bring up religion.

And worse, a lot of this does really come from the notion that promoting things like safety promotes sex.

 

[Labyrinth]

I do think that one should have to see a doctor to get them, because having medical knowledge very much helps when it comes to brands and the like, and hormone therapies such as the pill can be very problematic.

The problem is the availability of doctors, and the ability of people to pay for visits, hell to pay for birth control medication. It's incredibly impractical to demand that someone who can barely pay for food for their family and doesn't have a regular GP, lacks insurance, whatever else, try to find a doctor before they go on the pill, especially now that family planning centres are having their funding cut.

The situation winds up very fraught. Medical advice is sometimes essential in these situations, but is often inaccessible due to disadvantage, which is often increased by not having access to birth control options. My first answer would be to fix the inequality and make doctors much more available.

*snip*

That's certainly one way to go, have stuff at the counter to help someone looking for the pills. I like it.

 

[Jenvas1306]

In germany, once you are at legal age to have consent sex, thats 14 here, you can get the prescription for the pill from a gynecologist, without your parents needing to know. It is just important that that type of heavy manipulation of the bodies hormonal balance needs professional support and supervision.
But our healthcare and coverage with insurances is pretty good.

 

[Basement Cat]

Nope.

When you're on the pill you need to have your blood pressure taken every six months, along with a few other tests. The hormones in each brand of pill can affect individual woman differently and you really do need to be monitored. When you first have the pill prescribed, you only get 3 months because they need to see how that particular brand is affecting you.

I've personally had a terrible reaction to a particular brand of pill, as have most women I know on it but it's never caused by the same brand and the side effects are never the same.

Ditto on the others ditto'ing this.

Both of my sisters, some girlfriends, and several female friends have talked about the troubles they'd had with birth control pills. Some pills would have negative effects on them straight away while others would start to give them negative side effects after using them for a period of time--at which point their doctors would prescribe them a different type.

Birth control pills aren't like vitamins or antibiotics. Nope. Try being around one of my sisters when their pills start causing them to have scary mood swings.

*shudders*

 

[Colour Scientist]

I almost feel as though doctors should be allowed to prescribe the pill to minors without the parent's consent, but at least notify them if they are inhabiting the same residence.

Whut?

I didn't realise that was a thing?

 

[maidenm]

Well, to say the same thing most people have said, no it should be prescription based since it's, well, a drug. But I will say this.

Here, in Sweden, you can go to any gynaecologist or youth-health centre and talk to a doctor about contraceptives, get prescriptions and be at the pharmacy in less than an hour. For free. you might need a appointment or come along during drop-in times, but the only thing you need to pay for is the actual pill. When I went to a obyn doctor I only had to talk to her to get my prescription, I didn't even have to sit in the chair. I find that to be a good system, mind you I'm not sure if it's free for all or only for people under age 24.

 

[rosac]

Given most female uni students lifestyle, especially those involved in sports teams. Yes. seriously yes.
The amount of horror stories I hear about condoms splitting are not even funny. I know a lot of girls that have the implants, but they're mainly in stable realtionships.

 

[Abomination]

No, the drug does not JUST prevent conception. It can be overdosed on with freaky side-effects. At the same time a doctor should only be allowed to deny the prescription based on real medical harm to the patient and certainly not deny her for moral reasons.

 

[Colour Scientist]

No, the drug does not JUST prevent conception. It can be overdosed on with freaky side-effects. At the same time a doctor should only be allowed to deny the prescription based on real medical harm to the patient and certainly not deny her for moral reasons.

You can't overdose on the pill, the side effects occur from normal usage.

 

[RoonMian]

No, they shouldn't. Especially newer preparations get marketed more and more as a lifestyle product. They come with trendy names in bright colours with cool floral designs on the package and they not only act as birth control, they more importantly help with stuff teenagers really care about like bad skin and greasy hair. (That last part was sarcastic towards the marketing, just so we're clear) The pill is a severe interference with the hormonal balance and especially new preparations that get marketed that way tend to have more severe side effects than old, reliable formulas that could leave girls looking like a streusel cake. With everything that can have consequences like that in my opinion medical advice should be mandatory and that's the case in my country.

On the other hand I believe that family planning is a fundamental right for women and that it should be covered by health insurance which is not the case in my country.

 

[Yopaz]

It's a drug that messes with your hormone balance. That is something that should be supervised.

Now getting the prescription shouldn't be an inconvenience because that's the reason I stopped taking asthma medication. It should be easy to renew, but still, supervision is important with this kind of thing.

 

[Naeras]

These things have serious hormonal effects and can potentially be dangerous is used by someone with an underlying health condition. So, no, they shouldn't be sold without a prescription. However, there should be no reason to deny anyone one of those prescriptions if there's clear that there are no underlying issues that can lead to problems with using birth control pills. And thankfully, at least here in Norway, nobody will ever say "nope, I don't want to give you birth control pills, go ask some other doctor instead".

 

[Abomination]

No, the drug does not JUST prevent conception. It can be overdosed on with freaky side-effects. At the same time a doctor should only be allowed to deny the prescription based on real medical harm to the patient and certainly not deny her for moral reasons.

You can't overdose on the pill, the side effects occur from normal usage.

You can overdose on -anything-, not necessarily causing death. Taking too many birth control pills can result in uncomfortable side effects like excessive vaginal bleeding.

Of course there's also the whole potential of being allergic to the things but that is a very rare case.

 

[The Lugz]

everyone should be sterilized at birth and the genetic material stored until you have means to look after a child

bam, overpopulation, terrible parenting and teen pregnancy gone.

shame people aren't that logical oh well.

 

[socialmenace42]

Sure I know that some birth control pills are different than others, and that some types might need to remain only available via prescription, but honestly couldn't some types just be available over-the-counter?

Short answer: Nope

Longer answer: Taking the pill is not like taking an aspirin; sure there are some pills that are used more frequently than ohers but we're talking about substances that regulate hormone levels in the human body; taking the wrong ones can in the best case have no effect whatsoever and in the worst case it could cause serious damage to a persons fertility.

Widespread education and information about safe sex and contraception are certainly something we should be working towards, but getting the pill without ever speaking with an OBG would be dangerous.

 

[PhiMed]

Here in the US whether you know it or not, we're pretty backwards when it comes to women's health issues. We don't want to give young girls vaccinations for PID because we think that will somehow encourage them to have sex. We don't want people to have access to a drug that can induce an abortion. We don't want minors or poor people to have access to the morning-after-pill... the very people it's pretty much most beneficial to. Heck, we don't even want to teach our kids sex education.

The morning after pill is recently in the news again (http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/05/health/morning-after-pill/index.html?hpt=hp_t2) and it got me thinking.

Is there really a good reason that regular birth control pills aren't just sold over the counter? Sure I know that some birth control pills are different than others, and that some types might need to remain only available via prescription, but honestly couldn't some types just be available over-the-counter? I know they could be damaging taken incorrectly for some people, but honestly there are lots of drugs like that that are sold on shelves.

There are no vaccines for pelvic inflammatory disease. There's no conflict over that fictitious vaccine. I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you're thinking of the vaccine for human papillomavirus, which can lead to cervical cancer.

And yes, there are several VERY good reasons birth control pills aren't sold over the counter. They can kill you.

They can cause malignant hypertension, pulmonary embolism, and fulminant hepatic failure, among other serious medical conditions.

These are not benign. They should be taken under the supervision of a physician. Read a little.