Pharmacy access to contraception in Massachusetts

Authors

Courtney Joslin
Resident Fellow and Senior Manager, Project for Women and Families
Nicolas John
Former Legislative Advisor

Key Points

Many women have limited access to contraception

Nearly half of pregnancies in Massachusetts are unplanned

Taxpayers have spent over $350 million to cover the medical costs associated with unplanned pregnancy

Allowing pharmacy access has no adverse fiscal impact on the Board of Pharmacy or the state

Massachusetts should pass MA SD 102 to expand pharmacists’ scope-of-practice and 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 e orts expand the scope-of-practice 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 pregnancy.

In Massachusetts, nearly one-third of women of reproductive age use short-acting hormonal contraception such as transdermal patches, birth control injections or birth control pills. The latter are the most popular form of female contraception in Massachusetts.

Accordingly, it is easy to see how increased access can help women. In 2010, the latest year data is available, 47 percent of pregnancies in Massachusetts were unplanned. Nationally, the rate of unintended pregnancies peaked in 2008 at 51 percent of pregnancies and has declined since. It is important to note that this decline is a result of women using more e ective contraception, more often than in the past. Adopting a pharmacy access model in Massachusetts would therefore o er women increased access to e ective contraception, especially in rural areas where it is less accessible. In turn, this would help avoid unintended pregnancies and their effects.

Currently, unintended pregnancies in Massachusetts come at a high cost. In 2010, the publicly funded medical expenses associated with 56 percent of unplanned births in the state cost almost $358 million—$138.3 million of which was shouldered by the state government.

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