June 2013

Research brief: A national survey of US women's interest in over-the-counter access to oral contraceptives

Ibis Reproductive Health. Research brief: A national survey of US women's interest in over-the-counter access to oral contraceptives. June 2013

About half of all pregnancies in the US each year are unintended, and this statistic has been stable over the past decade. In 2012, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists issued a Committee Opinion supporting over-the-counter (OTC) access to the pill, citing its potential for reducing unintended pregnancy in the US. However, little is known about women’s perspectives on the availability of an OTC switch for the pill. This study aimed to fill this gap by surveying a nationally representative sample of US women at risk for unintended pregnancy on their interest in OTC access to oral contraceptive pills (OCPs).

The survey was conducted from November to December 2011 with 2,046 women aged 18 to 44 years who were at risk for unintended pregnancy (i.e., they were sexually active with a male partner in the past year, not pregnant or trying to become pregnant, did not give birth in the two months before the survey, and were not sterilized or with a sterilized partner).