R Sheets Disintermediation

Pharmacy Access To Contraception in Illinois

by Courtney Joslin AND Marc Hyden

April 2, 2019

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Authors

Courtney Joslin

Resident Fellow and Senior Manager, Project for Women and Families

Marc Hyden

Senior Director, State Government Affairs

Key Points

Many women have limited access to contraception.

Over half of pregnancies in Illinois are unintended.

Taxpayers spent nearly $1 billion covering the medical costs associated with unintended pregnancies in 2010.

Adopting a pharmacy access model would allow pharmacists to prescribe contraception, which they are qualified to do, and would give women more family planning options.

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Background

In the last several years, 10 states and the District of Columbia have passed pharmacy access bills, which allow pharmacists to prescribe hormonal contraception to women. These efforts expand the scope-ofpractice for pharmacists and increase access to birth control for women—especially those who may not have a regular physician or find that an appointment is too costly. Such advances are critical to the prevention of unintended pregnancies.

In 2010, 52 percent of pregnancies in Illinois were unintended. When compared to the national average—45 percent in 2011—this is high. Adopting the pharmacy access model in Illinois would therefore offer women increased access to effective contraception and would, in turn, help avoid unintended pregnancies and their effects.

Unintended pregnancies in Illinois are costly. In 2010, federal and state funds paid for over 78 percent of unplanned births in Illinois. This amounted to over $927 million—$352 million of which was shouldered by the state government.

Read the full study here.