Over-the-counter oral contraceptives: The adolescent health care providers' perspective

Objective: To survey the opinions of adolescent health care providers regarding the availability of over-the-counter (OTC) oral contraceptives (OCs) to adolescents and whether this intervention may decrease the number of unintended adolescent pregnancies.

Methods: Academic hospitals, neighborhood health centers, and family planning centers in the city of Boston were contacted. The health care providers who were most involved in adolescent contraceptive counseling were surveyed.

Results: Forty-nine providers participated. Ninety percent of providers (44 of 49) were against making OCs available OTC to adolescents. Seventy-three percent did not think that OTC OCs would decrease the number of unintended adolescent pregnancies.

Conclusions: Our survey shows that adolescent health care providers surveyed in Boston are opposed to making OCs available to adolescents over the counter. The majority do not think this would decrease the number of unintended adolescent pregnancies. The providers predicted that without the interactive counseling provided by clinicians, adolescents would be unlikely to utilize OCs effectively. Additionally, adolescents would be seen less for sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) screening and other routine health care.