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We applaud a joint FDA advisory committee for its unanimous vote in help of creating a contraception tablet out there over-the-counter, the primary ever in america and a historic development in contraceptive entry.
The work that led to this second per week in the past has been a long time within the making and displays dedication to principled partnership and centering the voices of individuals most impacted by boundaries to contraception entry. Specifically, we should acknowledge the function the reproductive justice (RJ) motion has performed in making certain we’re all the time centering the voices and wishes of those that our health-care system isn’t serving and that this transformative change in contraception entry actually results in improved entry for all of us.
At Free the Tablet, a coalition-driven marketing campaign to coach and have interaction the general public in help of OTC contraception capsules in america, we acknowledged the impression an OTC contraception tablet would have and the way it might revolutionize entry to contraception. And we knew that we wished to do issues in another way—we wished a unique type of change that prioritized entry for everybody.
In adopting an RJ framework, which was created by Black girls, we embraced a human rights framework that calls for an intersectional strategy to race, gender, and socio-economic systemic inequities, specializing in the power to forestall or finish a being pregnant, and the suitable to father or mother youngsters in protected environments the place they’ll thrive. We acknowledge an OTC contraception tablet is about company and self-determination, and so we constructed a coalition of RJ organizations, advocates, researchers, and regulatory consultants to help in shifting a contraception tablet OTC, an essential development that would remodel contraception entry, particularly for these going through essentially the most boundaries.
Collectively, we recognized vital questions and carried out analysis to make the case for the curiosity in and advantages of an OTC change, and we dedicated to doing our work by way of a reproductive justice lens.
We additionally acknowledged {that a} vital a part of adopting an RJ lens was reckoning with the historical past of the event of the tablet and sexual and reproductive well being extra broadly. We understand that we can not speak about entry to contraception with out acknowledging the painful historical past of the contraception tablet. When contraception was being examined 60 years in the past, a whole bunch of Puerto Rican girls have been enrolled in scientific trials and experimented on with out their consent.
These experiments are a stark reminder that in terms of development within the health-care subject, it’s usually Black and brown individuals whose our bodies are exploited for the sake of progress. In the present day, communities of shade nonetheless expertise structural racism within the health-care system and are disproportionately impacted by boundaries to contraception entry. And whereas the contraception tablet has been out there for greater than 60 years, entry to it stays inequitable.
With each the historical past in thoughts and a reproductive justice framework put into observe, we constructed consensus among the many coalition that our work can be centered on three key objectives: Any OTC contraception tablet wanted to be reasonably priced, absolutely coated by insurance coverage, and out there to individuals of all ages—core objectives that proceed to information our work.
The FDA advisory committee’s suggestion {that a} contraception tablet be out there over-the-counter stands in step with the a long time of strong knowledge on security and effectiveness of contraception capsules, and we look ahead to the FDA following the committee’s suggestion and approving an over-the-counter contraception tablet.
The highly effective testimony that members of our coalition—together with reproductive justice advocates and younger individuals—gave through the open public listening to portion of the listening to was talked about by many on the committee as compelling and essential to their vote to help OTC entry. However we all know that our work isn’t executed till each single one who wants contraceptive care can get it with out going through boundaries.
We’re dedicated to making sure that nobody who wants care is left behind due to how a lot cash they’ve, how previous they’re, or the place they dwell. By means of our years of labor at Free the Tablet, in coalition with our RJ neighborhood and different companions, we’ve proven that it’s attainable to check a unique type of Rx to OTC change—one which’s pushed by individuals’s wants whereas elevating their management and amplifying their voices. We’re proud to proceed this work to make sure OTC entry to a contraception tablet transforms entry for everybody.
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