The rollout is underway for Opill, the first over-the-counter birth control pill approved in the United States, and online sales began Monday morning.
Consumers can start ordering Opill online Monday, and orders will be fulfilled within a day or two, Sara Young, senior vice president and chief consumer officer at Perrigo, said in an email. So far, the product will be available at Opill.com and Amazon.
“Because privacy is important to Perrigo, Opill orders will be sent in plain, unbranded boxes,” Young wrote.
Opill has a suggested retail price of $19.99 for a one-month supply, $49.99 for a three-month supply, and at Opill.com, a six-month supply will be available for $89.99.
Earlier this month, the first shipments of Opill were sent to distributors, major drug stores and pharmacies — but as those shipments make their way through the distribution pipeline, it can take days to weeks before customers are able to get their hands on the product.
I heard some states have proposed laws pre emptively banning over the counter birth control, but I don’t think any of them actually passed yet.
But to answer your question it likely depend on two things if a state were to ban it, supreme court rulings in these two cases currently being heard: Food and Drug Administration v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine and Danco Laboratories v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, and who is elected president next year.
Currently FDA officials are using interstate commerce powers to protect the shipping of abortion drugs across state lines, and theoretically they could continue to do that for birth control drugs (if the Supreme Court doesn’t rule against them and Trump doesn’t get elected and appoint new fda leadership hostile to women’s health).