WASHINGTON, D.C. – Oregon Senator Ron Wyden today co-sponsored legislation that would make sure women have affordable access to the birth control option that works best for them.
The Oregon House today voted 50-10 to approve House Bill 2879, which will allow pharmacists to prescribe and dispense hormonal contraceptives and birth control pills, greatly increasing access.
The Oregon House passed a bill on a 50-10 vote allowing women to get oral contraceptives from a pharmacist without a doctor’s prescription, a policy that chief supporter Rep. Knute Buehler, R-Bend, said would be the first in the nation.
Oregonians will have easier access to prescription birth control under a bill that was advanced by the House Rules Committee this afternoon.
The health insurance industry lobbied aggressively Monday to convince Sen. Laurie Monnes Anderson, D-Gresham, and the Senate Health Committee to dramatically pare back a House bill that increased the supply of birth control a woman could get from a single prescription to 12 months.
Washington, D.C.
Free means free.
The Obama administration said Monday that health plans must offer for free at least one of every type of prescription birth control — clarifying regulations that left some insurers misinterpreting the Affordable Care Act’s contraceptive mandate.
House Democrats pushed through two health measures late last week that had the support of Planned Parenthood in a coup for reproductive health and patient privacy.
Women in Oregon will be able to get 12-month birth control prescriptions under House Bill 3343, which passed the House 55-2 this afternoon.
A woman eligible for the Oregon Health Plan or the Oregon Contraceptive Care program can get a year’s supply of birth control pills at a single pharmacy visit.
