California Women Can Now Get Birth Control Without a Prescription
Excellent news out of the Golden state!

California girls are about to be known for more than bikinis, suntans, and our ability to wear flip flops in literally all types of weather, no matter what the consequences might be.
The Los Angeles Times (opens in new tab) reports that women of any age can now procure birth control without a doctor's prescription from any California pharmacy. The rules went into effect on Friday, and applies to self-administered hormonal birth control, which means pills, patches, injections and vaginal rings. The exceptions are things a doctor has to insert — think IUDs.
To obtain your birth control of choice, all you have to do is fill out a questionnaire and have your blood pressure taken. The pharmacist can give you the birth control of your choice, or can work with you to recommend one. Then, a short session to give you info and answer questions and you walk away with your goods. That's it. Seriously.
As far as cost, it'll stay the same and if your BC is normally covered by your insurance, that will remain in place, as well.
California joins Washington and Washington, D.C., as places where women can get birth control without a doctor's prescription. In Oregon, women over 17 years old can also obtain birth control from a pharmacist.
I write on Fox’s THE GREAT NORTH. Before that, I wrote and edited for Cosmopolitan (opens in new tab) magazine and the Jezebel (opens in new tab) blog. My writing has also appeared in the New York Times, The New Yorker, Esquire, VICE, Marie Claire, McSweeney’s, California Sunday, BUST, Elle, Village Voice, Harper’s Bazaar, LA Weekly, Eater, Fast Company, Mic, Atlas Obscura, and more. I co-host/co-produce a comedy/storytelling (opens in new tab) show on the first Friday of every month at Stories in LA. I have a degree in Film and TV from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.
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