MEDICATIONS: STATEMENT OF THE AMERICAN COLLEGE OF OBSTETRICIANS AND GYNECOLOGISTS SUPPORTING THE AVAILABILITY OF OVER-THE-COUNTER EMERGENCY CONTRACEPTION

February 2001 – The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) supports making emergency oral contraception available to women over the counter in a designated product.

The time has come for women to have access to a product that they need. Almost half of the 6.3 million annual pregnancies in the United States are unintended. Emergency contraception holds the potential to cut this figure in half. This in turn could substantially reduce the U.S. abortion rate of about one in every four pregnancies.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has declared emergency contraceptive pills to be safe and effective in preventing pregnancy. Yet substantial barriers exist to women obtaining this fallback contraceptive method that must be used within 72 hours after unprotected intercourse. We believe that emergency oral contraception can meet the FDA criteria for over-the-counter availability. Then, at last, women would have access to an important method of preventing pregnancy.

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