But now we're going to highlight the issue of access to birth control and specifically hormonal birth control for women.

Like the patch, the pill, the ring and emergency contraception.

And while this area of reproductive rights often takes a backseat to abortion access, it has been an evolving issue in New York since 2019, with the passage of a law requiring insurers to cover FDA approved contraception without a co-pay.

And for the latest news, we spoke earlier this week to Jenna Bimbi, co-executive director of the New York Birth Control Access Project.

Here's that conversation.

Well, thanks so much for making the time, Jenna.

I am happy to be here and always happy to talk about birth control.

Well, it's definitely our pleasure.

So for starters, in 2023, state lawmakers and Governor Hochul signed off on legislation designed to make it easier to access hormonal birth control, which traditionally required a script from a doctor or nurse.

Can you walk us through the new law, which is expected to take effect this year?

Yes, But first, I want to give a little bit of context to the law, which is, you know, despite there being so many options for birth control, people still face barriers to getting it.

1.2 million women in New York live in a contraceptive desert, which means it's too difficult for them to get birth control.

So because of the Birth Control Access Act, which you just referenced, patients can now walk into their pharmacy, talk to their pharmacist about the birth control that they want, and the pharmacist will write that prescription for them.

And the patient can walk out that day with their birth control.

What happens now before the Birth Control Access Act takes effect is that a patient generally goes to a provider, OB-GYN, a nurse practitioner and midwife.

They'll need to make an appointment and then go in to see that provider.

But by allowing a patient to go to the pharmacy to do this, we're creating a one stop shop where they walk into the pharmacy.

They can get their prescription there, they can get their birth control filled, and they walk out with their birth control that day.

About 25 other states have passed legislation similar to this.

And so it was really exciting to see New York do the same and ensure that we're staying a leader in reproductive health care.

Well, you mention the hoops and hurdles that people might have to go through currently to access hormonal birth control.

So is the idea that there are just a wider availability of pharmacies for people to go to and theoretically access hormonal birth control this way, like the patch or the pill?

Yeah.

So pharmacies tend to be the most accessible type of provider.

And most Americans live closer to a pharmacy than a typical provider of birth control.

This is going to be especially true for folks living in rural areas upstate.

And if you think about it, sort of how you get your vaccines now, right, we can pop into a pharmacy and get a flu vaccine or a COVID vaccine from our pharmacist without a prescription.

You'll be able to do the same thing for birth control and it'll be for the pill, the patch or the ring.

And we're very hopeful that after the end of this legislative session, we will also see that the birth control shot can be prescribed and administered by a pharmacist.

So what needs to happen to ensure that this law works effectively?

Is it just about promoting the fact that this option exists by going on really important public media, television shows?

Or do pharmacists need some sort of training as well?

So to your first point, it's really important that people know that it's available to them and that pharmacists know that they can do it.

Laws aren't rights until people know about them.

So the education piece is going to be critical in some states that have in enacted pharmacists prescribed birth control.

It's as easy as putting a sticker in the pharmacy window that says this pharmacist can prescribe birth control and you can see an uptick in the number of patients that are coming in to get their birth control at their birth control prescription at the pharmacy.

There is some training that pharmacists are going to need to do.

And the Department of Health and the State Education Department are going to be dealing with that and pushing that out.

But for the most part, what we're most what we're most concerned about as advocates is making sure that patients know that they can go to their pharmacy without a prescription for birth control and walk out with their birth control that day.

And after someone has gone through that potential option in the future.

Jenna is that the way they can get their birth control for the refills and whatnot?

Or at some point would a patient have to go see a doctor or nurse to get their birth control refilled?

No.

And that's what makes this so exciting, is that from here on out, a patient can see a pharmacist to get their birth control.

Now, maybe a pharmacist will suggest that for whatever reason, a patient needs to go see a provider because the pharmacist has realized that a provider is going to be the better place for a patient to to go to, to get answers to questions or to make a different decision about the type of birth control they're going to get.

But a patient doesn't need to do that.

They'll be able to receive the prescription and the birth control from their pharmacist now.

And if this is the first time that someone is getting birth control, will the pharmacist be providing them with any sort of information about maybe the dangers that they need to be aware of or maybe side effects?

Is there any sort of screening that they may go through to help them navigate this new process?

Yeah.

So a pharmacist will provide them with a patient screening tool which will screen out any contraindications or like I said before, if they need to send them to a provider and OBGYN, a nurse practitioner or a midwife, then that screening tool will help the pharmacist know that they need to do that.

But if not, then the pharmacist can prescribe the birth control right then and there.

Well, looking ahead at the 2024 legislative session, you're also trying to make emergency contraception more accessible to young people by requiring it be placed in vending machines at public colleges and universities.

Before we get into the rationale for this requirement, can you explain what emergency contraception actually is?

Because I think there is a lot of misconception about what it does.

I would love to explain that because there are misconceptions and we need to dispel those about birth control writ large.

But for emergency contraception, for the purposes of this conversation, emergency contraception is just another type of birth control.

Most people know it by the name Plan B or the morning after pill.

And it is not the abortion pill, which is sometimes the thing that people confuse it with.

Emergency contraception is simply another type of birth control.

Well, turning to your legislative push, then.

Why should SUNY and CUNY schools be required to have emergency contraception in at least one vending machine on their campuses?

We're really, really excited about this legislation.

So what will happen is you will be putting colleges will be putting emergency contraception in a vending machine.

And in doing so, you are putting emergency contraception.

This this type of birth control where a patient needs it, where a student needs it, when a student needs it.

And location is so important because emergency contraception is most effective within 72 hours.

So some campuses have health centers, but not all senior CUNY campuses have health centers.

And even the ones that do, you know, the hours might not be as open as long as as often as you do would see a student be able to get it from a vending machine.

And then there's the price.

We are working to get the emergency contraception into a vending machine at an affordable price.

We're hoping for around $10.

We've seen this happen at John Jay College, at SUNY upstate at SUNY, Upstate Medical, as well as University of Buffalo.

And they've all placed it for around $10.

And then finally, students talk to us about the anonymity aspect.

Right.

Oftentimes, if you go to a pharmacy, not only is it expensive, the emergency contraception, it often has maybe locked behind a case.

And you've got to ask somebody at the pharmacy to come unlock it for you.

And that can be really uncomfortable for a young person.

So we've got hundreds of SUNY and uni students that we talk to all of the time, and they say, because it'll be easy, it'll be easier to access because it's on campus, it's an affordable price and there's the anonymity factor that is really important to them as well.

Well, unfortunately, that's all the time we have.

This week.

We've been speaking with Jenna Bimbi.

She is the co-executive director of the Birth Control Access Project.

Thanks so much for making the time.

Jenna.

Thank you for talking to me about birth control.