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Case Studies 6 HOW IT WORKS In order to be able to prescribe women birth control, pharmacists must first go through the Oregon training protocol. Then, women must complete The Oregon Self-Screening Risk Assessment Questionnaire (Oregon Pharmacist, n.d.). If a woman has any health concerns, the consulting pharmacists is expected to encourage her to visit a clinician (Yang et al., 2016). The law does require women to have proper identification. Further, pharmacists must ensure that the patients visit their clinicians once every three years after the original date of the birth control being dispensed. It also prohibits pharmacists from requiring patients to schedule an appointment to receive the hormonal contraceptive from the pharmacy (O.R. Legis. Assemb., 2015) On June 11, 2015, Governor Brown signed a separate law, House Bill 3833, which requires that insurance companies cover the cost for hormonal contraceptives for a full year at once. This includes pills, the patch, or the ring. (Joseph, 2015). House Bill 3833 passed the Senate 28-0 and the House 55-2. On June 15, 2015, Governor Brown signed another law, House Bill 2028, which “permits pharmacists to engage in practice of clinical pharmacy and provide patient care services to patients (Committee on Health Care, 2015).” A provision of this law allows pharmacists to not prescribe or dispense birth control if it is against their moral, ethical, or religious beliefs. Representative Knute Buehler was a driving force behind this law, as he was for the law allowing pharmacists to prescribe birth control. CONCERNS Although this law does increase women’s access to hormonal contraceptives. Planned Parenthood, the Oregon Nurse Association, and the ACOG believe that the law does not go far enough. Their position is that birth control pills are safe to use and should be fully over the counter, rather than requiring a pharmacist prescription. (Committee Opinion, 2012). The age restriction and requiring identification still act as barriers for vulnerable women (“Oregon's New,” 2016). There is also a concern that the new laws might discourage women from other, more highly effective methods of birth control, such as implants and IUDs (Yang et al., 2016). Further, since the laws require pharmacists to go through training, not all pharmacies have chosen to participate (Joseph, 2015). Some physicians also are hesitant, noting that by not requiring women to come into a clinic to get their prescription, they are missing out on screenings and other preventative care (Joseph, 2015).