North Carolina Will No Longer Require Prescriptions For Birth Control
Beginning today, February first North Carolina will no longer require prescriptions for birth control. It’s part of a law signed last summer which permits pharmacists to give as well as administer certain medications. Included in that list of medications are birth control pills and patches. The law phrases it that pharmacists can give “self-administered oral or transdermal contraceptives”. The patient just needs to so long as the patient completes “an assessment consistent with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s United States Medical Eligibility Criteria (US MEC) for Contraceptive Use.” This provides recommended birth control options based on medical history and conditions. So you can’t purchase it over the counter but consulting with your pharmacist will get you the medication instead of having to visit a doctor.
Also included in the law is pharmacists’ permission to dispense and prescribe prenatal vitamins, nicotine replacement therapy, HIV prevention medications, and glucagon for hypoglycemia. They now can prescribe and give injectable medicines specifically including Vitamin B12 and Testosterone. Other issues addressed are minors consent to medical treatment. Minors now as able to give consent to physicians ” for medical health services for the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of venereal disease and other diseases, pregnancy, abuse of controlled substances or alcohol, and emotional disturbance.
This should allow more people in North Carolina especially those who may not have insurance or means to visit a doctor to have access to birth control.
You can read the full law here
13 North Carolina Laws Going Into Effect January 1, 2022
