RALEIGH, N.C. — Beginning Tuesday, North Carolina women will be able to get hormonal birth control without a doctor’s prescription — a change that will give millions of women easier access to some of the most common contraceptives that prevent pregnancy.
Under a new law, passed by the state’s Republican-controlled legislature and signed by Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper, North Carolina will join more than a dozen other states in allowing pharmacists to dispense birth control pills and patches without the signature of a patient’s physician.
Effective Feb. 1, the new law could help shrink North Carolina’s 44% unplanned pregnancy rate and eliminate some of the barriers — like the cost and time of going to the doctor — that prevent women from seeking health care.
