Opill, the first over-the-counter birth control pill approved for sale in the U.S., will begin its first sales on Tuesday, available in Wisconsin for Medicaid recipients—and the government-funded healthcare program will cover 100% of the medication’s cost, Gov. Tony Evers’ office said.
Online pre-orders for Opill are also available across the country.
Sales of Opill will begin at some Medicaid-enrolled pharmacies on Tuesday and will continue to expand across the state in the following weeks, Evers’ announced in a statement on Tuesday.
Evers said easy access to contraception was important due to “continued attacks on women’s reproductive freedoms here in Wisconsin and across our country.”
At his State of the State Address in January, Evers announced he would issue a standing order for Wisconsin’s Department of Health Services to cover all over-the-counter contraception and emergency contraception with “no out-of-pocket cost” for all patients on BadgerCare Plus, the state’s Medicaid program.
Opill’s manufacturer Perrigo announced it planned to begin shipping the medication “later this month,” and online pre-orders began on Monday.
Perrigo suggests retailers sell Opill in packs of $19.99 for one month, $49.99 for three months, and $89.99 for six months.
Forbes reached out to Governor Evers’ office to confirm which pharmacies in Wisconsin would begin to offer Opill on Tuesday, and Walgreens and CVS both previously confirmed they will carry the product.
Opill was first approved as a prescription birth control pill by the FDA in 1973, and was originally sold under the brand name Orvette. Opill is a “minipill,” or a birth control medication that only contains one hormone, progestin, and typically comes with fewer side effects and a lower risk for patients developing blood clots, breast cancer and cervical cancer. However, progestin-only pills are less effective if not taken at the same time each day.
The over-the-counter version of Opill was approved by the FDA in July 2023, about one year after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, allowing states to enact and enforce bans on abortion. In his concurring opinion, Justice Clarence Thomas also called into question the other decisions made based on the right to privacy—including Griswold v. Connecticut, which protects the right to contraception and birth control for married couples. Thomas wrote the Supreme Court needed to “reconsider all of this Court’s substantive due process precedents, including Griswold, Lawrence, and Obergefell”—also naming the decisions that legalized same-sex relationships and same-sex marriage, respectively.