Family Planning

PIP: The goal of doubling the number of contraceptive acceptors in the world during the 1990s is achievable if family planning services are made universally accessible and a continuous supply of contraceptives is maintained. With serious attention to the elimination of unwanted pregnancies, the world’s population could stabilize at under 8 billion; without it, the global population will approach 15 billion before stabilization. To counteract the impact of a 30% increase in the numbers of women of fertile age in developing countries during the 1990s, 130 million new contraceptive acceptors...

Letter to the Lancet

Published in Lancet, 9 25 1993, 342(8874):808

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In this paper, it is argued that oral contraceptives should be available without prescription. Prescription status entails heavy costs, including the dollar, time, and psychological costs of visiting a physician to obtain a prescription, the financial and human costs of unintended pregnancies that result from the obstacle to access caused by medicalization of oral contraceptives, and administrative costs to the health care system. After a review and evaluation of the reasons for strict medical control of oral contraceptives in the United States, safety concerns anticipated in response to...

The idea of making oral contraceptives available without prescription has a long history, and has been recently revived in the US and the UK. High dose oral contraceptives have generally been replaced by low dose formulations and, subsequently, most cardiovascular risks have been reduced and a protection against ovarian and uterine cancers has been consistently demonstrated. Oral contraceptive compliance, however, continues to be a problem, but there is no reason to assume that wise practice would be any more or less if oral contraceptives were available over-the-counter (OTC). Some...