Oregon women can soon get a year of birth control at a time

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Oregon has enacted a first-of-its-kind insurance law that will allow women to obtain a year’s worth of birth control at a time, expanding coverage that previously needed to be renewed every 30 or 90 days.

Gov. Kate Brown signed the legislation Thursday, saying it “has a simple premise that I whole-heartedly believe in: increase access and decrease barriers.”

Supporters say the measure will reduce unintended pregnancies and make things easier for women, especially in rural areas, since they won’t need to renew their prescriptions as often.

The new law advances a push on the issue this year. Oregon legislators also are considering a proposal that would allow pharmacists to write birth control prescriptions for women who pass a self-administered risk-screening assessment.

The Catholic church opposes contraceptive expansion in the state, saying it could have “moral implications and social consequences.”

Critics of the plan to provide access to a year’s worth of birth control all at once say it could lead to a rise in health care costs for employers and insurers.

“To me it’s just a checkbook issue, plain and simple,” Rep. Julie Parrish, a Tualatin Republican, who opposed the measure.

Mary Nolan, interim director of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Oregon, however, said the benefits of the plan “are so obvious once you point them out. People had been accustomed to going along with 30 days for so long that people hadn’t really questioned it.”

She said the proposal has drawn interest from lawmakers in California, New York and Washington state. A similar measure is pending in Washington, D.C., reproductive rights expert Elizabeth Nash said.

Insurance companies typically cover a 30- or 90-day supply of contraception, Nash said. But a year’s supply “would reduce the potential for skipping pills or not having her patch or ring when she needs it,” the Guttmacher Institute researcher said.

The plan would require women to first get a three-month supply of birth control to make sure there are no adverse reactions. Subsequent prescriptions could be filled for a year at a time.

It goes into effect Jan. 1.