The following editorial originally appeared in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
The Food and Drug Administration is considering allowing birth-control pills to be sold without a prescription. Some conservatives are raising predictable objections, but others appear to grasp the obvious: If the anti-abortion-rights movement truly is motivated solely by a desire to prevent abortions, without a broader agenda of imposing religious dogma or subjugating women, its adherents should be the loudest voices for making reliable birth control as easily accessible as possible.
The start of the sexual revolution is often pegged to a single date — May 9, 1960 — which is when the FDA approved sale of the prescription oral contraceptive Enovid, over fervent objections of religious leaders and political conservatives.
The Pill, as society quickly dubbed it, was initially illegal in many states, and even where it could be sold, prescriptions were generally available only to married women. The specter of separating sex from procreation was viewed by many as a harbinger of moral decay. In reality, it would usher in vast new opportunities for women to pursue personal and professional lives free of the ever-present threat of unplanned pregnancy.
After 63 years, the FDA is finally giving its first consideration of approval for an over-the-counter birth-control pill (the French-made Opill). More than 100 countries already allow over-the-counter oral contraceptives. America’s continued prescription requirement is less the result of medical necessity than political trepidation.