Great Lakes Wire

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced that the state will make it easier for women to obtain birth control. 

According to a state news release, pharmacists now can prescribe hormonal birth control in line with the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs' plan to give women the ability to plan their pregnancies.

“This expansion allows for broader access to certain forms of birth control,” Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian, the state's chief medical executive, said in the news release. “Nearly 30% of U.S. women of childbearing age have reported difficulty obtaining or refilling birth control prescriptions. Expanded access to hormonal contraceptives provides flexibility for women to manage their reproductive health outside their regularly scheduled health care appointments.”

The action coincides with Whitmer’s executive directive in May that called for state agencies to examine how to further safeguard reproductive health care after Roe v. Wade was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court.

“Today’s action clarifies that Michigan pharmacists with delegated authority can prescribe self-administered hormonal birth control—oral contraceptives, the patch, and the ring—expanding access to birth control for women across Michigan and ensuring that they can plan their own future on their own terms,” Whitmer said. “As reproductive freedom is under attack across the nation, we are using every tool in our toolbox here in Michigan to protect women.”

Whitmer adds that birth control is crucial to a woman planning her family by her life.

The LARA directive will allow practicing doctors to assign pharmacists to issue birth control in most cases.  

Birth control can be obtained by patch, contraceptive and the ring with pharmacists educating the patient on how it interacts with the human body. Pharmacists can choose whether or not to participate in the program.