In Sweden, all types of birth control pills are prescribed – even minipills without the hormone estrogen, which increases the risk of blood clots. But the American pharmaceutical authority FDA recently approved that a mini-pill may be sold over the counter without a prescription in the United States.
– This is a revolution for many. Access to this contraceptive will immediately be much greater, says Kelly Blanchard, researcher at Ibis Reproductive Health, who has campaigned for many years for the pill to be over-the-counter.
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“Unwanted pregnancies a big problem here”
In large parts of the South, abortions are now in practice completely prohibited. Therefore, access to contraception becomes extra important to avoid unwanted pregnancies. Now uninsured Americans can skip the expensive doctor’s visit. Likewise, young people who do not want their parents to know that they are having sex.
– There is a big problem here with unwanted pregnancies. So many children are raising children. And grandparents are forced to raise grandchildren, says Linda Lau, whom SVT meets outside a pharmacy in New Orleans.
The researcher: Sweden should follow suit
Kelly Blanchard believes that Sweden should follow the US and offer estrogen-free minipills without a prescription.
Mini-pills are considered to be less effective if you are not careful to take them at the same time every day. Isn’t it better to get instructions from a doctor instead of reading labels?
– I think that all of us who have visited a doctor experience the information as very short and not very detailed. But what the company behind the pill showed the FDA was that people who bought this in an exercise did a good job of following the instructions on the label, Blanchard says.