FDA approves first over-the-counter birth control pill in U.S.

Federal regulators Thursday approved the first over-the-counter birth control pill available in the United States, a milestone in decades-long efforts to make oral contraceptives easier to obtain, especially by teenagers and women who don’t regularly see a doctor.

The Food and Drug Administration’s approval of Opill, made by the consumer health giant Perrigo, comes six decades after daily birth control pills were introduced in the United States, drastically changing the lives of countless women and American society. And it means the country will join about 100 other nations that allow the sale of nonprescription birth control pills.