I’m 17 years old, and today I can walk into any drugstore in Texas and buy condoms or Plan B emergency contraception without issue. But to get daily birth control pills, I have to get past a whole lot of restrictions and medical professionals.
The process got even more complicated last year when Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk (the same federal judge who recently revoked approval of mifepristone, the FDA-approved abortion pill) ruled that young people in Texas will now need our parents’ permission to get birth control at clinics funded by the state.
As the Food and Drug Administration considers expanding access to over-the-counter birth control nationwide, with a final decision expected this summer, the threat to contraception access for young people in Texas should be a sign of what’s at stake.
You see, I’m a student in Texas. We already don’t have many opportunities to talk about sex or contraception openly. We barely receive sex education, unless you count the “Human Anatomy” chapter of our health class (which also happens to be the shortest). And in most of my and my friends’ homes, sex is an off-limits or taboo topic. To be honest, I think the majority of the sex ed we get comes fromsocial media platforms like TikTok.
So when we started trying to get birth control, we weren’t prepared for how hard it would be. Finding the time, money and means to get to a doctor for a prescription, getting our parents’ support and being able to pick up the pills is hard enough for a high-schooler. We have school until 3 p.m. and afterschool activities until even later. Are we supposed to skip school to get to a doctor’s appointment? Our parents might never agree to take us to the appointment in the first place.
Blocking birth control access harms everyone
I know for a fact I’m not alone: A 2022 survey by Advocates for Youth found that 88% of young people indicated they experienced at least one barrier to obtaining a prescription for oral contraception, and 55% reported that one or more of these barriers had prevented them as a teen or young adult from obtaining a prescription for birth control pills. More than half of that group reported pregnancy scares.
To make matters worse, last December’s ruling by federal Judge Kacsmaryk has taken away even the little bit of autonomy we had. And this is just the beginning − although the federal government has appealed the ruling, if it is upheld by a higher court, we could see restrictions like this in many other states.
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This worries me, not just for me and my friends, but for young people around the country. Although they shouldn’t be, sex and birth control are such taboo topics in Texas and can be so hard to bring up with the adults in our lives.
More than 1 in 5 of those ages 15-17 across the country say they would not seek reproductive health services if there was a risk their parents would find out. But we shouldn’t have to rely on our parents: Young people are perfectly capable of managing over-the-counter medications and can screen ourselves for any side effects, with or without parental supervision.
We need birth control to be able to have control over our bodies, our lives and our futures. Today, birth control pills are available over the counter in more than 100 countries around the world – including Mexico, where I lived before Texas. So why not here in the United States?
Young people are fighting back to free the pill
For the past year, I’ve been working with #FreeThePill Youth Council to make this a reality. We’re a network of young activists across the country working with our communities to bring birth control over the counter, covered by insurance, with no age restriction.
Young people have been organizing nationwide, and we’re winning: New York Gov. Kathy Hochul just signed the Birth Control Access Act into law.
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When HRA Pharma first submitted its application for an over-the-counter birth control pill, I organized a testimony writing party at my school last fall, bringing together dozens of my peers to share their experiences with the FDA. The party was also an opportunity to share our experiences with each other, to learn from one another what they aren’t teaching us in school, and to advocate for our right to make the decisions that we know are right for us.
Birth control shouldn’t be something that’s only available to people who live in certain states or whose parents happen to be open to it. It is essential health care that every single one of us deserves, no matter our age, race, income or life circumstance. People like Judge Kacsmaryk shouldn’t be able to take that away from us at the drop of a hat, and we certainly shouldn’t lose out just because we can’t make it to an appointment or can’t afford it.
I’m proud to have brought together so many of my peers to share our stories about why we need birth control over the counter to lead our lives with respect and bodily autonomy – and I’m glad the FDA committee hearing testimony followed the science and unanimously recommended that a birth control pill be made available over the counter without age restriction.
Now, as the FDA makes its final decision this summer, I’m counting on its officials to turn that recommendation into a reality and make over-the-counter birth control available to us all.
Maia Lopez is a high school student based in Grapevine, Texas, and is a member of Advocates for Youth’s #FreethePill Youth Council, a national network of youth activists who are working in their communities to bring birth control over the counter, covered by insurance with no age restriction.
