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FDA approves first nonprescription daily oral contraceptive

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Re: FDA approves first nonprescription daily oral contraceptive

#181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The same people who hate and politicize abortion also usually hate and politicize contraceptives. I don't know if that had an impact in the choice to seek approval or not, but I wouldn't be surprised. If it looks like Trump might win the electoral college and the Dems might lose Congress, it might not be the worst thing to have stocked up on.

The contingent of people who want abortion restrictions and those who want to ban daily preventative contraception is incredibly minimal. There is no serious mainstream movement whatsoever to ban this type of medicine. This type of hyperbolic proselytizing has no place in reasoned discussion.

Incredibly minimal. Totally hyperbolic proselytizing.

They're not going to stop. They have no intent to. They're going to keep pushing until a legal entity pushes back one way or the other.

https://pulseforlife.org/why-not-contracept/

https://www.catholic.com/tract/birth-control

https://www.prolifewi.org/contraception

https://www.help.senate.gov/chair/newsroom/press/republican-...

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/17/us/politics/birth-control...

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/birth-control-ruling-to-...

Re: FDA approves first nonprescription daily oral contraceptive

#182
post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a bit more nuance here. There is certainly a political angle, but there is a non zero risk with taking something like this that should be discussed with a doctor first, IMO. Bypassing a doctor does open up access, but there may be risks, especially if folks don't take the medicine correctly.

A lot of that ends up being bureaucratic wastes of time though. My partner was on birth control for years and had to jump through so many hoops - Had to go to yearly appointments to continue receiving it - Could not pick up more than a month at a time, which created logistical issues since they HAD to take it daily - Had to get the prescription renewed every three months or so, which often led to delays filling it It…

You can add to that list

- Have to get pap smears before being granted a prescription

Doctors will withhold birth control to coerce women to get regular pap smears, just because it's a lever they have available, not because it's related to the prescription.

I have to take both ADHD meds and birth control, and while it is much easier to get prescribed birth control, it's a similar level of stress of making sure my medication is regularly available, especially for someone who struggles with staying on top of timely tasks.

Re: FDA approves first nonprescription daily oral contraceptive

#183
post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can get birth control from places that don't require insurance like MinuteClinics and online for a cost of about $20 for the visit. I'm pretty sure the online option does not have long wait times.

This is 3 hours of minimum wage work to get a rubber stamp to get it. Interesting.

Likely much more if you consider the actual cost of the medication.

Re: FDA approves first nonprescription daily oral contraceptive

#184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a bit more nuance here. There is certainly a political angle, but there is a non zero risk with taking something like this that should be discussed with a doctor first, IMO. Bypassing a doctor does open up access, but there may be risks, especially if folks don't take the medicine correctly.

I agree, and I see a lot of false equivalence comparing BC to the dangers of Tylenol/acetaminophen/paracetamol in this thread. Yes, both are drugs and can be misused with disastrous or even fatal consequences. The important distinction is that you can use oral contraceptives correctly and still have seriously negative, life-altering side effects. There are alternatives which may be preferable and ideally every woman…

Sure, and you can use NSAIDs correctly and experience the same. For instance, if you're taking methotrexate.

At some point you need to have a new avenue for disseminating that type of information, especially when doctors visits are becoming more inconvenient and expensive.

Re: FDA approves first nonprescription daily oral contraceptive

#185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're right that women ought to be the ones in charge of dealing with this sort of thing, but I don't think a bunch of guys presenting positions that are generally skeptical of the FDA restricting things that are generally considered safe from being sold OTC (even if not for the right reasons) are the reason that it took a long time for this to be approved to be sold OTC.

> You're right that women ought to be the ones in charge of dealing with this sort of thing, That's pretty contrary to the typical diversity rationale that suggests out group people have valuable inputs. I think it makes a lot of sense to have society as a whole making decisions about how society as a whole operates. It's not just an individual's choice if they take a drug which may or may not end up being like thali…

everything in this reply espouses ideas and positions that are literal antitheses of a liberal society.

Re: FDA approves first nonprescription daily oral contraceptive

#186
post #76

This reminded me to look up Vasalgel again (a single-application, non-hormonal, long-lasting, reversible male contraceptive that is unfortunately not yet commercially available), and I see that it seems to have taken a meaningful step forward: https://www.parsemus.org/humanhealth/male-contraceptive-rese... Apparently a company's moving forward with an attempt to productize it: https://www.planaformen.com/ With an opt…

One thing that has occurred to me about these types of medications is men are seemingly more willing to lie than women about being on contraception. IMO that's just a reason to criminalize that type of deceptive behavior and not prevent people from having access to the drug.

That doesn't make much sense to me since you can lie about a vasectomy or, more simply, about pulling out.

Only the woman, at the end of the day, when it comes to men she can't trust, can either avoid getting raw-dogged OR take a contraceptive to be sure, herself, since she's the one at risk of getting pregnant.

Re: FDA approves first nonprescription daily oral contraceptive

#187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Helping poor people who do not WANT kids not HAVE kids is not Eugenics but rather their basic human rights in a world that invented birth control.

When you're doing it explicitly because 40% of their offspring will be poor, I think you've at least entered a gray area. Aligning with the interests of eugenicists is hardly an argument against a policy though.

Re: FDA approves first nonprescription daily oral contraceptive

#188
post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there anything in current US politics around pregnancy that might make you consider that the legal regime in this area might be changing?

Even abortion hasn’t yet become illegal in as many places as the doomsayers predicted. The pill is extremely popular by comparison.

> Even abortion hasn’t yet become illegal in as many places as the doomsayers predicted.

I'm sure the women who live in the areas where it has been made illegal are happy that the "doomsayers" over estimated the number of places.

Re: FDA approves first nonprescription daily oral contraceptive

#190

This is amazing, it will help a lot of people have access to a drug that can vastly improve quality of life without being gatekept by their doctor. Just one note about the phrasing of all the headlines: they’re phrased as if the FDA did a good thing, but it’s better to imagine this as the FDA _stopping_ doing a bad thing. The only reason that we haven’t had over the counter oral contraceptive for the last fifty years…

There's a bit more nuance here. There is certainly a political angle, but there is a non zero risk with taking something like this that should be discussed with a doctor first, IMO. Bypassing a doctor does open up access, but there may be risks, especially if folks don't take the medicine correctly.

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