(California) Governor signs bill allowing women to obtain birth control without seeing a doctor

[alp227]

Source: KPCC/Southern California Public Radio

Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill in Los Angeles Saturday that will allow women to obtain birth control without having to see a doctor.

"Instead of shrinking back and trying to take away women's health care services and birth control, we're empowering them," Brown said to a crowd at Planned Parenthood's L.A. headquarters.

AB 2348, authored by Democratic state Assemblywoman Holly Mitchell of Los Angeles, allows registered nurses to dispense and administer birth control according to a standard procedure outlined by a doctor. That's in contrast to requiring the doctor to sign off on each prescription.

The bill passed without any Republican support. Republican lawmakers argued only doctors have the medical expertise to provide hormonal contraceptives and they questioned the standard of care nurses could provide.

Read more: http://www.scpr.org/blogs/news/2012/09/22/10111/governor-signs-bill-allowing-women-obtain-birth-co/

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Take that, Republicans!

[a geek named Bob]

1. For a malicious form of fun...

I tell the right to lifers that my wife and I are only promoting birth control for the wild pagan amounts of sex, and to kill the baby jesus...

[cbayer]

2. Good. We are going to need lots and lots of mid-level practitioners with

good experience and expanded privileges once everyone is covered.

[JDPriestly]

12. Nurses can do a lot especially in emergency rooms. They can triage patients to determine

who really needs to see a doctor. To some extent, they already do that, but with a little more training . . . .

I hope this bill only authorizes nurses to prescribe birth control if they are working with a doctor and under the supervision of a doctor. Women also need tests of various kinds, and those tests are usually administered in conjunction with the discussion of contraception. Nurses cannot do those tests.

[cbayer]

13. As I read it, they would still have the supervision requirements and this

is just adding to the list of things they are able to prescribe. Nurses can also often order certain labs and tests, but this varies from state to state.

I don't think this is independent practice, just an increase in scope of practice.

[Mojorabbit]

32. Exactly

I am a retired nurse. Seeing a health care professional covers much more than just obtaining the pill, ie regular pap smears, screening for suitability for the pill, managing any side effects, counseling and on and on

[rapersun]

3. I swear!

Sometimes I think that California is really the only state that isn't going backwards on a multitude of issues! Thank you Jerry!

[Moonwalk]

20. As a Californian I'd agree with you if I didn't have to remember Prop 8 passed here...

...I will never forgive my state for doing that. No progressive thing we do will ever erase the fact that we passed that shameful, hateful law.

But I do think we did right in electing Brown. He doesn't always do what I want him to do, and sometimes does things I don't want him to do, but I at least feel he's not doing those things because he's dickish, or trying to impose some religious morality on me, or trying to achieve some hidden agenda like enrich his buddies. I always feel that he's got some reason--one he thinks is a good one--and he has considered all points from all sides.

And one of the primary reasons I voted for him: His promise not to use taxpayer dollars to appeal and defend Prop. 8 after it lost in court. To let that decision stand (alas, for us, the courts have allowed others to keep appealing and defending it even if California is not doing so!). For that alone, I can give him wiggle room when he goes wrong, and cheer him when he goes right. Thanks, Jerry. This one is right.

[SoapBox]

4. Good job Jerry

[pinto]

5. Kudos. PHN's have plenty of expertise, and standards of care. And often the 1st provider of choice

[bluestateguy]

6. Open access to birth control actually reduces abortions

But don't expect the (mostly uneducated) fundagelicals to understand that.

[railsback]

7. There are plenty of pediatric nurse practitioners

Republican arguments are lame, as usual.

[uppityperson]

8. Great. Here's another article about hormonal birth control addressed by this...

While hormonal birth control, the pill, etc, are not for everyone, in the majority of cases they can be. Doing decent histories, including discovering contraindications, and doing the monitoring needed are well within a trained RNs scope of practice and ability. Good for them.

http://www.cwlc.org/women-reproductive-justice/3817_ab-2348-increase-access-birth-control-thousands-women-california-allowing-registered-nurses-dispense-selfadministered-hormonal-contraceptives

(clip)
AB 2348, the Access to Birth Control Bill, also would authorize RNs in community clinics to dispense hormonal birth control under a standardized procedure. Allowing RNs to dispense self-administered hormonal contraceptives like the pill, patch, ring and shot makes sense given the proven safety of birth control and its wide use throughout the world.

An essential component of comprehensive reproductive health care for women, hormonal contraceptives are among the safest and widely studied medications available today. Many leading medical institutions, including the World Health Organization (WHO), the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA), have developed evidence-based guidelines for use of hormonal contraceptives which are based on patient assessment, medical history, blood pressure, history of smoking and other basic elements that are well within the skills and training of RNs. These guidelines maintain that hormonal contraception can safely be provided and used by women without requiring a pelvic examination first, which can create barriers for women in need of birth control and add unnecessary costs to the health care system.

In addition, the standardized procedures mandated in AB 2348 will clearly specify requirements for education, training to competency, supervision, contraindications and a specific formulary and protocols for complex or high risk patients. The standardized procedure must be developed collaboratively by the nurses, physicians and community clinic administrators. Because of this interdisciplinary collaboration, there is accountability on several levels for the activities performed by RNs.

[Socal31]

9. I'm all for it as long as the RN is still involved.

Hormones are a serious thing to put in your body, so a quick warning about not smoking while taking them could go a long way.

I'm male so all of this is none of my business anyway, I guess I am just coming from the angle that I may someday have a daughter, and I would want that for her.

[freshwest]

18. You never read the extensive warnings on the package?

What if a not-so-friendly RN doesn't believe in birth control because of her own religious convictions she wants to shove down the woman's throat?

[jonesgirl]

22. The same can be said about a doctor too.

[freshwest]

28. Yep. And those pharmacists taking out their religion on women. What's next, sheesh.

It's still about telling a woman she's too dumb to make decisions about her own body and her own life. By those who won't carry the life long responsibility she will. So wrong.

[robinlynne]

10. Actually whenever I go for checkups, it is now a nurse, not a doctor anyway.

[Gormy Cuss]

11. "In many countries contraceptives are available over the counter, but not in the U.S.,"

Last edited Sat Sep 22, 2012, 09:24 PM - Edit history (1)

"In many countries contraceptives are available over the counter, but not in the U.S.," Mitchell said.

There are so many ways that we could lower health care delivery costs if we emulated the practices in those "many countries." I was thinking about immunizations as one example. Flu shots can be had on a walk-in basis at many retail locations and it's cheap. I wonder how many other immunizations could be handled this way as well. I'd rather roll into a CVS at my convenience for a shot rather than making an appointment for the doctor, sit around waiting in the office just to have the nurse administer the shot anyway.

[lolly]

15. Yes, that would definitely be better

I strongly suspect the whole requirement to see a doctor before obtaining birth control is more about paternalistic control than anything else. Gotta make the little woman get permission from a male authority figure before she can have a sex life.

Yes, I know most--at least half--of ob/gyns are female now, but the original requirements go back to the days when almost all doctors were male.

[freshwest]

19. +1,000.

[davidn3600]

14. The headline is deceiving

It suggests the birth control will be over the counter. That's not true. It only makes it so nurses can make the prescription. And then there is a requirement to see an actual medical doctor within 3 years.

The FDA would have to change the drug's classification for it to be truly over the counter. That's per federal law.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

16. Oh sure, Republicans were concerned for womens health....

[existentialist]

25. I found that funny too.

[freshwest]

17. Take that, indeed! WTG, Jerry Brown.

[Dawson Leery]

21. K/R

It's about time!

[riverbendviewgal]

23. Good move

In Ontario we are using more nurse practitioners who can prescribe medicines, not narcotics which only a doctor can.
I that it is good health care and frees doctors for the more serious and urgent patients.

Also our prescription drug prices are negotiated by our government to give us he best prices.

When seniors turn 65 our prescriptions are paid for by the government in full, except for the dispensing costs which are between 2 - 6 dollars.

God Bless Canada

[Laelth]

31. Indeed. Bless Canada. n/t

-Laelth

[existentialist]

24. Leave it Republicans

to argue that everyone must have more medical care and supervision than they can afford.

[jonesgirl]

26. The nurse does just about everything anyways...

and in all honesty, most of the birth control pills are the same. It's just according to which manufacture the doctor has the most interest in...that's the deciding factor.

[Vidar]

27. Bless you, Jerry.

[cr8tvlde]

29. In a Red State...after 50 years in a Blue State...

the Nurse Practicioners charge what my GP charged in CA, and as per my neighbor, (certainly not me...LOL) for visits to the psychiatrist, they go sit in front of a computer screen for a max of 15 minutes. WTF???

[Laelth]

30. Great news. k&r n/t

-Laelth

[Shitty Mitty]

33. They couldn't already?

WTF?