Birth control could be available at Georgia pharmacies, but not until next year

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A one-month dosage of hormonal birth control pills is seen. A new Georgia law on Gov. Brian Kemp's desk could allow them to be obtained directly from pharmacists.

Credit: AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File

A bill that would allow people to go straight to pharmacists for birth control is headed to Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp’s desk for a signature.  

House Bill 1138 authorizes pharmacists to dispense and administer birth control pills and injections without a prescription from a doctor to people 18 years and older. Those under 18 would have to show evidence of a previous prescription. 

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Advocates of the bill are urging Kemp to sign it, saying it expands access to critical and sometimes life-saving reproductive health care. 

More than two dozen U.S. states already authorize pharmacists to prescribe hormonal birth control. 

If the bill gets signed, birth control wouldn't be available at Georgia pharmacies until 2027. That’s the deadline for the Department of Public Health and the State Board of Pharmacy to agree on rules such as how pharmacists will be trained to dispense the medication and what information they’ll give out with it.  

Republican state Rep. Beth Camp, lead sponsor of the bill, said the language in the bill is meant to be inclusive.  

"We don't know what kind of contraception could be in existence in years to come," Camp said. "But this is everything, right now, from a Depo-Provera shot, to a NuvaRing, to oral contraception."

As of 2024, there were 82 counties in Georgia without an OB-GYN, and 19 counties without a family medicine doctor. Even in counties with better health care access it may not be feasible to get an appointment, Camp said. 

"Let's just face it, most doctors are 8-to-5, 9-to-5," she said, referring to office hours. "So this really opens up things and allows a lot of women to get access." 

Still, the bill requires pharmacists to alert a patient's primary doctor if they receive contraception. If the patient does not have a primary doctor, pharmacists are expected to advise them to consult with one. 

Birth control is already available and priced based on income at local public health departments, which exist across the state, after an initial assessment with a nurse.