--- title: Women in Oregon Can Now Buy Over-The-Counter Birth Control description: Women in Oregon can now buy hormonal birth control from a pharmacist without a doctor’s prescription. canonical: https://time.com/4166660/oregon-birth-control/ author: Melissa Chan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-01-04T20:40:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T09:03:10.642Z article:section: Health og:title: Women in Oregon Can Now Buy Over-The-Counter Birth Control og:description: You don't need a doctor's prescription anymore og:url: https://time.com/4166660/oregon-birth-control/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Women in Oregon Can Now Buy Over-The-Counter Birth Control twitter:description: You don't need a doctor's prescription anymore twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Oregon Women Can Now Buy Over-the-Counter Birth Control  by [Melissa Chan](https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Jan 4, 2016 8:40 PM UTC  by [Melissa Chan](https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Jan 4, 2016 8:40 PM UTC Women in Oregon can now [buy hormonal birth control from a pharmacist](http://koin.com/2015/12/30/pharmacist-provided-birth-control-in-effect-jan-1/) without a doctor’s prescription. The state became the first in the U.S. to implement the law allowing over-the-counter birth control, which went into effect Jan. 1, KOIN 6 reports. California’s similar law kicks in beginning in March. “Just having birth control accessible through a pharmacist doesn’t mean preventative health care isn’t important. That’s not what this law is saying,” Dr. Alison Edelman of the Oregon Health & Science University told the news station. It allows “increased access to women for something that’s incredibly safe and a really big need for women,” she added. **Read more:** [Why Over-the-Counter Birth Control Is Stalled](http://time.com/4132835/why-over-the-counter-birth-control-is-stalled/) Women who are at least 18 can now get their birth control at pharmacies after filling out a brief questionnaire. Colorado and Washington have also introduced similar legislation, according to KOIN. Oregon’s governor signed the bill into law last July. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4166660/oregon-birth-control/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4166660/oregon-birth-control/"},"headline":"Oregon Women Can Now Buy Over-the-Counter Birth Control","datePublished":"2016-01-04T20:40:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T09:03:10.642Z","description":"You don't need a doctor's prescription anymore","url":"https://time.com/4166660/oregon-birth-control/","keywords":["Public Health"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Chan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[],"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/4166660/oregon-birth-control/","name":"Oregon Women Can Now Buy Over-the-Counter Birth Control"}}]}] ```