NBC News
The convenience stores carry a very appropriate name: they have everything that people need at any time of day or night, from a milk container to a condom package. But until now they had no contraceptive for women.
This situation is changing slowly and progressively because for a year the company Cadence, of Oakland (California), is supplying gas stations, delicatessen stores and 24 -hour stores with its own brand of emergency contraceptives, called the day after pill, which prevents pregnancy delaying ovulation if taken in the 72 hours following a sexual relationship without protection contraceptive
The first pills of the day after, MONDOSIS DE Levonorgestrel, reached the shelves of Texas stores in March 2024. Since then, according to the executives of the company, the pills are found in 11,000 establishments of 48 states. South Dakota and Hawaii are the last ones that are resist. In a postal code search, the product was found everywhere, from an EZ Mart de San Antonio to a Delicatessen store in Walla Walla (Washington).
Kate Vieten, vice president of commercial operations of the company, declared that Cadence, who is also looking for the approval of the Food and Medicines Administration (FDA, in English) for her regular contraceptive pill of free sale, tries to facilitate women to control their sexual health.
“Our original objective was to transform contraception,” he said, “take it everywhere where there is a condom.”
Around a third of all prophylactic for men are sold in convenience stores, he said, and yet stores “have nothing for women”, except tampons and pregnancy tests.
Free sales emergency contraception is a safe and effective synthetic hormone that is used when a condom is broken, a contraceptive pill is omitted or no contraceptive method is used. It acts inhibiting or delaying ovulation and, according to the FDA, does not interrupt pregnancy or damages the fertilized ovule already implemented in the uterus. And does not affect future fertility. Some patients may experience later or earlier menstrual periods and short -term stained, headache, nausea and fatigue.
The availability in stores such as 7-Eleven and Circle K occurs even while legislators of some states led by Republicans have indicated that they want a new level of scrutiny for contraception. Almost three years have passed since the Supreme Court annulled federal law to abortion and that decision – dictated by the conservative majority of the Court – led many Republican states, including Texas and Tennessee, to penalize abortion.
The aftermath of the state prohibitions of abortion cut the access of some women to contraception because many abortions that were forced to close also provided contraceptives.
In particular, hormonal contraceptives, which include emergency contraception, have been subject to growing attacks by the religious right.
An important legal victory of a conservative Christian legal group in Texas restricted the access of minors to contraceptives in that state, and an order of the administration of Donald Trump that freezes 65 million dollars in family planning funds has threatened access to contraceptives from Mississippi to California.
Although the Catholic Church has long opposed all forms of artificial birth control, the main anti -abortion groups, such as Students for Life of America, have intensified their campaigns aimed at emergency contraception, intrauterine devices, injections, implants, patches and contraceptive pills. The groups falsely claim that these methods are “abortive” that prevent a fertilized ovum from being implanted in a woman’s uterus.
In some states, such as South Carolina, Alabama and Texas, abortion is illegal as soon as the ovule is fertilized in the fallopian tube, even before the zygote travels to the uterus and is implanted.
The importance of having access 24 hours
At the same time, some contraceptive products have become more accessible through online purchase and without a recipe, such as OPILL, which last year became the first contraceptive pill without a recipe available in the United States. New contraceptive methods, such as prolonged action implants, patches and Phexxi, a vaginal gel without hormones, have also appeared in the market.
Emergency contraception can be acquired without a recipe, a fact that many women do not know, according to a survey conducted by KFF, a health policy research organization. In fact, half of the women living in states where abortion is prohibited believe that emergency contraceptive pills are illegal in their state or say they are not safe, according to the survey.
However, younger women are more likely to declare that they have used emergency contraceptives: 44% of women aged 15 to 24 and 40% of those aged 25 to 34. In addition, online data shows that emergency contraceptives searches are usually done late at night, as I go. “And 7-Eleven is open,” he added.
Megan Kavanaugh, the main scientific researcher at the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive health research group, said that 99% of women of fertile age in the United States have used some contraceptive method, including natural family planning, “throughout their life”, a trend that remains in all demographic groups, including religious beliefs. Less than 1% of women use methods based on fertility knowledge.
And the use of emergency contraceptives has also increased in recent decades. KFF researchers discovered that a third of women between 15 and 49 who have had sex with a man in the United States have used it.
“People use the emergency contraceptive for many reasons,” says Kavanaugh. “The condom fails, have not been using contraceptive methods or may need to use it after sexual assault.”
The cost, however, can be a barrier for some women, he said, noting that free sale products such as B ONE STEP PLAN – Emergency Contraceptive Orter – can cost more than $ 50. “It is a prohibitive price,” he says.
The condoms are cheap, but they are usually out of the control of women who have sex, Kavanaugh explained. “It is part of the misogyny in which we live that we put different prices to the products,” he said.
Cadence’s emergency contraception is priced at $ 25 per box for a single dose. A study of consumer behavior conducted by the manufacturer, Cadence, revealed that women questioned the quality and effectiveness of a contraceptive product with a price of less than $ 15, but that products with a price greater than $ 30 were prohibitive.
Surveys show that a large majority of Americans support contraception and opposes efforts to restrict their access.
Contraceptive in safety boxes or behind the counter
However, often getting help to prevent pregnancy can be a challenge, says Amanda Bryson, a pediatrician and specialist in adolescent medicine at the University of California in San Francisco and attached professor of pediatrics.
Bryson, who serves adolescents and young adults and is not affiliated with Cadence, said these barriers can include the need for confidentiality, as well as lack of transport, economic means or medical insurance. And although emergency contraception is available without recipe or age requirement, pharmacists often store the product in safety boxes or behind the counter, which forces adolescents and young adults to look for a store dependent.
In convenience stores, pills are usually with condoms, not behind the counter.
Finding emergency contraceptives in rural areas can also be difficult, especially in villages without pharmacy or parapharmacy.
Bryson remembers the case of a patient who called outside the working hours to ask for an emergency contraceptive. After advising the patient, who had insurance, Bryson asked for a recipe for a local pharmacy, but was exhausted. Another pharmacy, however, had medications without recipe, for $ 50. The patient bought the pills there.
“It shouldn’t be so difficult,” says Bryson. “This adult had information about emergency contraception, had a doctor who could advise her, knew that he could contact me outside the work schedule, he had insurance, he could drive, and even so this meant a huge barrier.”
He added: “In similar situations to this, having a lower cost pill in convenience stores with expanded schedule could be really significant.”
“Taking care of your sexual health should not be stigmatized,” Bryson said, adding that “the availability and visibility” of contraceptives for women on the shelves of convenience stores can help fight stigma.
Those responsible for Cadence claim that they would like to expand their market to the university campuses, and perhaps even the vending machines, pointing out that it is a “very profitable product.”
At the same time, some contraceptive products have become more accessible through online purchase and without a recipe, such as OPILL, which last year became the first contraceptive pill without a recipe available in the United States.
New contraceptive methods, such as prolonged action implants, patches and Phexxi, a vaginal gel without hormones, have also appeared in the market.
Urgency contraception can be acquired without a recipe, a fact that many women are unaware, according to a survey conducted by KFF, an organization of research on health policy. In fact, half of the women living in states where abortion is prohibited believe that emergency contraceptive pills are illegal in their state or say they are not safe, according to the survey.
