The Food and Drug Administration announced this morning that it has granted marketing approval for the over-the-counter sale of one type of birth control pill, a progestin-only pill (also called the “minipill”). As explained here, the minipill is not as easy to use as combination oral contraceptives. Dublin-based Perrigo, the maker of the pill that will have the brand name Opill, states it hopes to have the pill on the market by 2024.

As Josh Bloom and I wrote in May, enabling women to access this one brand of minipill is a ministep in the right direction. But the FDA should allow all women to access all forms of hormonal contraception over-the-counter.

Below are other articles I have written on the topic:

• FDA Might Approve Over‐​the‐​Counter Sales of One Birth Control Pill. Now It’s Time To Approve All the Rest
• Hey FDA, Free the Birth Control Pill!
• OTC Birth Control Pills–Just What The Doctor Ordered
• LA Times: Birth control should be available over the counter. How Congress can make that happen
• NY Daily News: Over-the-counter birth control? Bring it on
• Time: Women Should Not Have to Visit a Doctor for Birth Control