The pharmaceutical company Cadence OTC is making its emergency contraception medication, the Morning After Pill, available at convenience stores across the U.S., the company said Tuesday.
The Oakland, California-based Cadence OTC said in a statement that it is expanding access to the pill to serve markets where it isn’t available and to provide women living in low-income or marginalized communities affordable emergency contraception. Cadence OTC said it will be the first company to offer emergency contraception over-the-counter at convenience stores.
Samantha Miller, Cadence OTC’s chief executive, said “there are more than 23 million women who live in about 7,000 U.S. zip codes that do not have access to over-the-counter emergency contraceptives.” The Morning After Pill should should be as easy to find as condoms, she said, in part because there are more than 150,000 convenience stores across the U.S. that stay open late.
The Morning After Pill will be available to people in smaller towns, including so-called healthcare deserts and around college campuses, Miller said. The expanded access will help prevent unintended pregnancies, she added.
Cadence OTC’s move comes as pharmacy retail giants including CVS and Walgreens have also expanded access to women’s reproductive healthcare medications. Earlier this month, the companies said they would begin selling mifepristone, a key abortion medication, in states where abortion access is legal.
Walgreens and CVS said just days later that they would start selling Opill, an FDA-approved daily birth control pill.
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