The Oregon House passed a bill 48-4 on Thursday that expands the types of contraception that women may get directly from a pharmacist without a doctor’s prescription to include injectable contraceptives. It now heads to the Senate.
“This builds upon work we did in 2015, groundbreaking work that allows pharmacists to prescribe oral hormonal birth control, making access to oral contraception some of the easiest in the entire nation,” said Rep. Knute Buehler, R-Bend.
House Bill 2527 is backed by the Oregon State Pharmacy Association. Lobbyist Bill Cross called the measure a natural extension of the earlier legislation, which Buehler also spearheaded.
The 2015 law allows women to receive oral hormonal contraceptives and contraceptive patches from a pharmacist after filling out a screening tool. Teenage girls may also get birth control this way, but only after first receiving a prescription from their medical providers.
Buehler was able to break through Democratic resistance to that law by partnering with Sen. Elizabeth Steiner Hayward, D-Portland, who also supports HB 2527.
A second bill affecting contraceptive coverage, House Bill 3135, passed the House Health Committee last week but was sent to the Committee on Ways & Means for its budgetary impact.
HB 3135 requires coordinated care organizations and the Oregon Health Plan to pay for the implant of intrauterine devices in new mothers before they leave the hospital.
The Legislative Fiscal Office estimated the program could cost the state about $40,000 a year because it would be on the hook to later remove the devices in some women no longer on the Oregon Health Plan, based on similar programs in Colorado and South Carolina.
The bill would also reduce unwanted pregnancies, however, ultimately lowering costs for the state.
Reach Chris Gray at [email protected].
