The US Food and Drug Administration’s approval of a pill used to prevent pregnancy, marketed as Opill, to be sold over the counter or without prescription is the first daily oral contraceptive approved for use this way. The application was submitted last year after its Supreme Court turned over the Roe v Wade protective legal shield making abortion more difficult and even criminal. It is worth pointing out that over-the-counter pills to prevent pregnancy are common in many countries, including India, because they offer women the autonomy to decide on their reproductive health. That it took the US this long, nearly 50 years after the pill was made available by prescription, to take it off prescription is a mystery but this has not come a day too soon.
As societies turn inwards with pronounced turns to the right of centre, the more conservative and regressive approaches to women, women’s role in society, and their reproductive health become popular and are embraced by governments.
The US, despite its place in the world, is no different. Women’s health advocacy groups and many medical associations have long argued that oral contraceptives such as the pill to prevent pregnancy be made available to millions of American women over-the-counter; polls showed that more than 60% of women were in favour of this more than a decade ago. But this move now, in the wake of Roe v Wade, assumes an undeniable political significance with the executive sending out a clear signal that women must have their bodily autonomy and the space to make decisions about their reproductive role.
A large number of women will heave a sigh of relief at the latest developments but it does not, in any way, blunt the chilling effect of taking Roe v Wade off the statute books.
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