R Street Testimony in Support of GA HB 1138, the ”Increasing Access to Contraceptives Act”
Testimony from:
Courtney Joslin, Senior Manager and Resident Fellow, R Street Institute
In Support of House Bill 1138, the ”Increasing Access to Contraceptives Act”
February 9, 2026
House Health Committee
Chair Hawkins and members of the committee,
My name is Courtney Joslin, and I am a senior manager and resident fellow of the Healthy Families initiative at the R Street Institute, which is a nonpartisan, nonprofit public policy research organization. Our mission is to conduct policy research and outreach that promotes free markets and limited, effective government in a number of policy areas, including women’s health. This is why we support HB 1138, which would improve Georgians’ ability to get their preferred contraceptive with fewer unnecessary barriers. Contraceptive access is associated with a myriad of benefits: healthy spacing between pregnancies, better health outcomes for moms and babies, and even better economic opportunities for families.[1]
This bill would do two things: allow pharmacists to provide contraceptive consultations directly to patients, and also allow patients to pick up 12 months of their prescription at one time from the pharmacy. Both policies have been widely embraced by a number of states, and each uniquely improves access.
Pharmacist prescribing allows pharmacists to consult patients on most common forms of contraception and, if they decide the patient fits the safety criteria, provide a prescription.[2] 30 states, including Tennessee, South Carolina, Arkansas, and Virginia, allow pharmacists to do this already.[3] That’s because pharmacists are medication experts, regular short-acting forms of contraception are extremely safe for the vast majority of women, and doctors’ appointments aren’t always easy to come by in a number of states, including here.[4] Data shows that allowing pharmacists to prescribe contraception brings benefits to both women and the state; in Oregon, pharmacist-prescribing reduced unintended pregnancies, and saved the state’s Medicaid program $1.6M in the first two years.[5] Further, this practice doesn’t compel anyone to prescribe birth control. It’s a voluntary process, and pharmacists are required to undergo contraception-specific training first.[6] Pharmacist-prescribing for contraception could mean better access for Georgia women, especially those in medically underserved areas, which Georgia is stepping up to address in a number of crucial ways.[7]
The second component of this bill, commonly known as “annual supply”, changes state insurer requirements so that patients can pick up a 12-month supply of their contraception prescription at one time. The logic is simple; the most common contraceptives, like the birth control pill, require daily use. Interruptions to daily use lead to more unintended pregnancies and higher health care costs.[8] Calling in refills to pick up every 30 or 90 days can easily lead to a day or two of discontinued use, which does, according to research, mean more unintended pregnancy and higher health care costs. For example, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) explored the possible cost savings that annual supply could bring compared to the current three-month dispensing limit. This model estimated an annual savings of over $2 million for insurance providers covering over 24,000 women veterans—an average of about $87 per woman.[9] These cost savings largely resulted from fewer unintended pregnancies and the associated health care costs. Numerous states already allow annual supply, like in Tennessee, which enacted annual supply in 2024.[10]
Combined, these reforms would meaningfully make it easier for Georgians’ to plan their families and their futures. Both pharmacist prescribing and annual supply, when done well, can ultimately reduce unintended pregnancies and save the state on health care costs. For these reasons, we urge the passage of HB 1138.
Sincerely,
Courtney Joslin
Senior Manager and Resident Fellow, Healthy Families
R Street Institute
cmjoslin@rstreet.org
[1] Courtney Joslin, “Economic Mobility and Contraceptive Access: Individual Effects,” R Street Institute, November 2021, https://www.rstreet.org/research/economic-mobility-and-contraceptive-access-individual-effects/.
[2] Joslin et al., “Pharmacist-prescribed hormonal contraception: A guide for what you need to know about pharmacy access to birth control,” R Street Institute, October 2023, https://www.rstreet.org/research/pharmacist-prescribed-hormonal-contraception-a-guide-for-what-you-need-to-know-about-pharmacy-access-to-birth-control/.
[3] “Pharmacist-Prescribed Contraceptives,” Guttmacher Institute, as of January 30, 2026, https://www.guttmacher.org/state-policy/explore/pharmacist-prescribed-contraceptives.
[4] Rebecca Grapevine, “Georgia Senate panel advances bill to ease path for foreign-trained doctors,” WABE, February 6, 2026, https://www.wabe.org/georgia-senate-panel-advances-bill-to-ease-path-for-foreign-trained-doctors/.
[5] Tracy Brawley, “Pharmacist-prescribed birth control reaches new users, saves Oregon $1.6M,” May 2019, https://news.ohsu.edu/2019/05/09/pharmacists-prescribed-birth-control-reaches-new-contraceptive-users-saves-oregon-1-6-million-in-public-costs.
[6] “HB 1138: Increasing Access to Contraceptives Act,” last accessed February 7, 2026, https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/72697.
[7] Grapevine 2026.
[8] “High rates of unintended pregnancies linked to gaps in family planning services: New WHO Study,” World Health Organization, October 2019, https://www.who.int/news/item/25-10-2019-high-rates-of-unintended-pregnancies-linked-to-gaps-in-family-planning-services-new-who-study.
[9] Colleen Judge-Golden et al., “Financial Implications of 12-Month Dispensing of Oral Contraceptive Pills in the Veterans Affairs Health Care System,” JAMA Internal Medicine, September 2019, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31282923/.
[10] Representative Akbari et al., Senate Bill 1919, “AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 56, Chapter 7, relative to contraception access,” https://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/BillInfo/Default?BillNumber=SB1919&ga=113.