UC Irvine should offer safe contraceptives

It is important that access to birth control is easy, cheap and quick. These were the guiding factors behind California’s unanimously passed SB 493, allowing pharmacists in the state to have full authority to distribute hormonal contraception such as the pill, patch, ring and shot without prescription. However, a lack of implementation is apparent at the University of California, Irvine.

An op-ed written by three law students at UC Irvine complained of the university’s unwillingness to comply with the law. Despite concerted efforts, the University required the girls to schedule appointments, meet with physicians and undergo pelvic exams — a policy they later waived — despite the change that the law was supposed to bring. Though health center pharmacists can’t prescribe birth control without a prescription, there is no self-screening available and the wait to begin birth control is ridiculously long.

The university is required to comply with the law, but maintains restrictions that do not allow it to implement the law completely — introducing only aspects of it. Administration believes that the protocol will burden students with long pharmacy wait times — hypocritically enough, not unlike the queues at existing pharmacies under current policies. They say that hiring more pharmacists to alleviate overcrowding wouldn’t be a good financial decision. However, such reasoning is clearly unfounded. There is no evidence to support the school’s claims, and there is already a long wait to see a physician for the same.

Additionally, the university has argued for birth-control barriers like pelvic examinations before a prescription can be issued. The pelvic examination process was eliminated after students pointed out that the exams were not cost effective (as girls don’t seek them). So, having annual exams (that the medical community has said should not be a prerequisite for birth control), which remain expensive,  is not a great decision. After concerted effors, this has finally reached the ears of authorities.

There are some who say that these exams also check for unknown cancers or infections that might go unnoticed. While that is a valid worry, it does not take into acount that the same could be said of any and every other body part. This doesn’t mean we live in anxiety and schedule bi-weekly medical check-ups. These people forget the importance of the bill and how its implementation would reduce the rate of unwanted pregnancy. It would also offer incentive to someone who doesn’t want to schedule an appointment with a primary care physician to go on birth control.

Currently, some UC students pay transportation costs to go to pharmacies farther away from campus that have specially licensed and educationally trained pharmacists who allow them to access birth control easily, though at a higher cost. 

Women in today’s world must demand equality, and having to ask for permission from someone or being answerable to someone to start or continue being on birth control is not indicative of social or political equality. The law in a way is supposed to help them overcome patriarchy by giving them control over their bodies and what they do with them ,but the school not adopting it makes them feel otherwise. The tone of the op-ed that the three UC Irvine students wrote reflected the same principles.

If the University of California system completely adopted SB 493, birth control would be easy, cheap and quick, making the college community less prone to unwanted pregnancies. It would change the lives of many young girls who currently find it hard to access birth control.