--- title: Pharmacists in California and Oregon to Prescribe Birth Control description: It will soon be easier for women in California and Oregon to get birth control, as the two states will soon allow pharmacists to prescribe contraception. canonical: https://time.com/4124217/california-oregon-the-pill-pharmacists/ author: Alexandra Sifferlin article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-11-23T15:36:02.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:57:05.155Z article:section: Health og:title: Pharmacists in California and Oregon to Prescribe Birth Control og:description: It will soon be easier for women in California and Oregon to get birth control, as the two states will soon allow pharmacists to prescribe contraception. og:url: https://time.com/4124217/california-oregon-the-pill-pharmacists/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt20b89acac69ee4c3/6987788606f2c181f13333e7/birth-control-pills-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: TIME.com stock photos Birth Control Pills og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Pharmacists in California and Oregon to Prescribe Birth Control twitter:description: It will soon be easier for women in California and Oregon to get birth control, as the two states will soon allow pharmacists to prescribe contraception. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt20b89acac69ee4c3/6987788606f2c181f13333e7/birth-control-pills-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Pharmacists in California and Oregon to Prescribe Birth Control > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Health Matters: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition Health Matters is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. The latest health news and expert advice on living well. Health Matters makes the fast-moving world of health more useful, surprising and human, from the latest science and medical breakthroughs to practical ideas for living better. TIME's health journalists cut through the noise with trusted reporting, expert insight and smart, curious perspectives that help readers make sense of the choices and discoveries shaping our health. 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Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ## Video: The History of Birth Control [Watch (HLS stream): The History of Birth Control](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/4oCau3Jn.m3u8) (3:12)  _Published 2015-01-22. For as long as men and women have been having children, they’ve been trying to figure out how not to. Artifacts dating back to ancient times have shown that contraceptives have been used for thousands of years._ by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Nov 23, 2015 3:36 PM UTC  Elizabeth Renstrom for TIME by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Nov 23, 2015 3:36 PM UTC It will soon be easier for women in California and Oregon to get birth control, as the two states will allow pharmacists to prescribe contraception. [The Seattle _Times_ reports](http://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/california-oregon-pharmacists-to-be-allowed-to-prescribe-birth-control/) that within the next few months, women will be able to get hormonal contraceptives, like pills and rings from a pharmacist. To get birth control at the pharmacy, women will undergo a brief screening with pharmacists and fill out a questionnaire about their health and medical history. The laws are extensions of common current practices that allow pharmacists to provide services like vaccinations. In Oregon, teens under 18 must still obtain their contraceptive prescription from a doctor. “I feel strongly that this is what’s best for women’s health in the 21st century, and I also feel it will have repercussions for decreasing poverty because one of the key things for women in poverty is unintended pregnancy,” State Rep. Knute Buehler, a Republican who sponsored Oregon’s law, told the _Times_. Currently about 6.6 million pregnancies in the United States are unintended. \[[_Seattle Times_](http://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/california-oregon-pharmacists-to-be-allowed-to-prescribe-birth-control/)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4124217/california-oregon-the-pill-pharmacists/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4124217/california-oregon-the-pill-pharmacists/"},"headline":"Pharmacists in California and Oregon to Prescribe Birth Control","datePublished":"2015-11-23T15:36:02.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:57:05.155Z","description":"The laws will be implemented over the next few months.","url":"https://time.com/4124217/california-oregon-the-pill-pharmacists/","keywords":["Public Health","California","Prescription","Birth Control","oregon"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt20b89acac69ee4c3/6987788606f2c181f13333e7/birth-control-pills-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alexandra Sifferlin","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt20b89acac69ee4c3/6987788606f2c181f13333e7/birth-control-pills-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"TIME.com stock photos Birth Control Pills","caption":"TIME.com stock photos Birth Control Pills","creditText":"Elizabeth Renstrom for TIME","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/public-health/","name":"Public Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4124217/california-oregon-the-pill-pharmacists/","name":"Pharmacists in California and Oregon to Prescribe Birth Control"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"The History of Birth Control","description":"For as long as men and women have been having children, they’ve been trying to figure out how not to. 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