(Washington, D.C.) - Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, issued the following statement on news that the first application for an over-the-counter birth control pill has been submitted to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for review today.
“Birth control allows women to plan a family on their own terms. With Republicans stripping women of their fundamental reproductive rights, I’m fighting hard to ensure everyone can get the birth control they want-without extra hoops or extra costs. It’s amazing to see today’s announcement of the first-ever FDA application for an over-the-counter birth control pill-because it means it may soon be easier than ever for women to get birth control without needing a prescription. That’s huge.
“But it’s not enough for an over-the-counter birth control pill to be available to women-it has to be affordable, too, and that’s why we need to pass my Affordability is Access Act. Once the FDA determines an over-the-counter option to be safe and effective for use without a prescription, it should be approved without delay and must be fully covered by insurance just like other FDA-approved birth control-and that’s exactly what my bill will do."
The Affordability is Access Act ensures that people across the country can access and afford over-the-counter birth control options and plan their own reproductive lives, on their own terms. The bill would:
Senator Murray, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (D-MA-07), Chair of the Pro-Choice Caucus’ Abortion Rights and Access Taskforce, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY-14), Congressman Ami Bera, M.D. (D-CA-07), Senator Mazie Hirono (D-HI), and Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) reintroduced the Affordability is Access Act (AAA) last month.
Read full text of the Affordability is Access Act here.
