The Arkansas House of Representatives approved legislation Monday that would allow pharmacists to dispense birth-control pills without a prescription, reviving a debate that died two years ago in the state Senate.
House Bill 1069, by Rep. Aaron Pilkington, R-Clarksville, was passed in an 88-2 vote, with four members voting present.
The bill is similar to legislation run by Pilkington in 2019 to amend the practice of pharmacy in state law to include the dispensing of oral contraceptives without a doctor's prescription.
Both bills would limit pharmacists to dispensing no more than six months' worth of pills before requiring the woman to visit a doctor. Only women over 18 would be able to get a prescription for birth control from a pharmacist.
Pilkington said the aim of the legislation is to make it easier for women to access birth control and to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies.
"We want to expand access to oral contraceptives in rural areas and reduce the teen pregnancy rate in Arkansas," Pilkington said. "What we've also found, too, is when we enact policies like this, we also reduce the number of abortions in those states."
Fourteen states and the District of Columbia allow pharmacists to dispense contraceptives without a prescription, according to the National Alliance of State Pharmacy Associations.
Pilkington's attempt to advance similar legislation in 2019 ran into resistance from several lawmakers who expressed the fear that increased access to birth control would lead to promiscuity, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette previously reported.
During an attempt to advance the bill in the House that year, Pilkington chided lawmakers "to leave that kind of 1950s thinking in the past," a remark he later apologized for.
The House passed the legislation by a 54-29 vote in 2019. The Senate never took up the legislation.
In the interim, Pilkington said, he worked with the Family Council to include a requirement that pharmacists report to the state Health Department the number and age of women receiving birth control without a prescription.
The new bill also prohibits a pharmacist from referring a woman to an abortion provider and requires that the woman receiving birth-control pills signs a form stating that oral contraceptives can cause the death of a fetus.
Jerry Cox, the president of the Family Council, said that as a result of the changes included in the legislation, the group would remain neutral.
The two lawmakers to vote against the bill on Monday were Reps. Stephen Magie, D-Conway, and Jack Fortner, R-Yellville.
Fortner said later Monday that he had pressed the wrong button. Magie did not respond to requests for comment.
HB1069 now heads to the Senate, where it is sponsored by Sens. Breanne Davis, R-Russellville, and Trent Garner, R-El Dorado.