 Ken Thai, part-owner and manager of the El Monte Pharmacy Group, says he is excited about the new regulation that will allow him to directly prescribe birth control in his pharmacies in California. (Photo: Heidi de Marco, Kaiser Health News) 
 
 California and Oregon will be the first states in the nation to allow women to get birth control pills and other hormonal contraceptives directly from their pharmacists – without a doctor's prescription. The two measures were hailed by women's health advocates. It says a pharmacist may prescribe and dispense birth control if a woman is: 
 
 (a) At least 18, regardless of whether she has evidence of a previous prescription for a birth control patch or pill; 
 
 (b) Under 18, only if she has evidence of a previous prescription. California's rules are expected to take effect after Oct 1 and Oregon's law after Jan. 1. California and Oregon will allow hormonal contraceptives without a doctor’s prescription. (Photo: Heidi de Marco, Kaiser Health News) 
 
 Democrats say that is an attempt to get around requirements to cover prescription birth control under the Affordable Care Act and would effectively make hormonal contraceptives off limits to many poor women. Kroon says California is one of the first states to recognize that pharmacists can help address the need. It has taken nearly two years to develop regulations implementing California's 2013 law, which also allows pharmacists to prescribe other medications that once required a doctor's prescription, including travel medicines, smoking cessation treatments and the opioid overdose antidote naloxone. We are graduating students that are ready for this, but the laws just haven't kept up with what the pharmacist training already is. It will be one of the first to take advantage of a new law in California allowing pharmacists to prescribe hormonal contraception, including the pill, the ring and the patch. "I think it's really wonderful," said 26-year-old Anne Wong, who lives in San Francisco. "It's a drag to have to go to clinic and talk to the doctor to get birth control pills – it takes a chunk out of your day." CORNISH: This story is part of a reporting partnership of NPR, KQED and Kaiser Health News.
– Women in Oregon and California will be the first to walk into a drug store and order birth control pills right from the pharmacist—no prescription needed. Oregon's bill was signed into law last week and California's, passed two years ago, is being fine-tuned into regulations by state officials, USA Today reports. The laws also allow pharmacists to dispense other hormonal contraceptives without a prescription. Women's health advocates applauded the move: "We were pleased to hear from several male legislators who testified that they deferred to their wives in seeking guidance on their vote," says an official at Planned Parenthood Advocates of Oregon, per the Oregonian. "[It shows why] birth control decisions should stay between a woman and her doctor, not politicians." Another beneficiary is physicians burdened by long lines of patients, like Americans now insured by ObamaCare and Baby Boomers getting Medicare as they turn 65, NPR reports. But it's no quickie trip to the drug store: Pharmacists will still have to give women health screenings before dispensing the contraception. The laws—which should kick in by October 1 in California and after New Year's in Oregon—arrive as the US Congress is debating birth-control access. Both parties agree to the no-prescription idea, but Republicans don't want insurers footing the bill. Democrats say that would keep many women in poverty from getting birth control. Neither the Oregon nor California laws consider the question of insurance coverage. (See why Oregon women can stock up on the birth-control patch.)