In a Wall Street Journal opinion column, Gov. Bobby Jindal says birth control pills should be available over-the-counter.
If women were allowed to get birth control without a prescription, Jindal argues, employers with moral objections would not have to pay for it and Democrats could no longer accuse Republicans of being against contraception.
Democrats won political points in a fight over a requirement in the Obama administration’s healthcare law that most employee insurance plans cover birth control.
Jindal, who is considered a possible 2016 presidential candidate, says oral contraceptives only require a prescription because of big government and the benefit to big pharmaceutical companies.
The Louisiana governor’s op-ed is in agreement with the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologist’s conclusion in a report this month that allowing over-the-counter access to birth control would cut down on the “major public health” problem of unintended pregnancy.