The year 2024 is expected to usher in a new era of birth control. While an exact date has yet to be announced, an oral contraceptive named Opill is likely to be available over-the-counter, without a prescription, some time this year. Approved by the FDA in 2023, the manufacturer said to expect the pill to be readily available in stores and online at leading retailers across the U.S. in “early 2024.”
Get ready for a historic moment in reproductive rights in America! The long-awaited progestin-only pill, known as the mini pill, is set to revolutionize birth control. With fewer risks and more accessibility, this innovative contraceptive is a victory for reproductive rights and a cause for celebration.
Exciting developments in contraceptive science are creating a more equitable future, even as abortion care restrictions sweep across the country, experts tell Salon.
“There’s really no limit to the diversity of methods that could and should come out for men in the same way that we created diverse methods for females.”
“I think there is a shift towards more gender equity, you can see more men getting comfortable taking on and sharing that burden,” said Dr. Brian Nguyen, an assistant professor in the obstetrics and gynecology department at the University of Southern California. “And more female partners who are expressing that their male partners should take on the burden.”
Male partners have had no options to prevent pregnancy that fall between condoms and vasectomies. But Nguyen sees firsthand the “paradigm shift” that’s happening because he helps run clinical trials for two potential male contraceptive options. One, which he says is closest going to market as it’s currently in a phase 2b trial, is a male hormonal gel. The other is a once-a-day pill.
The idea is that men would rub the gel on their shoulders once a day. Over the course of several weeks, it would gradually reduce their sperm count to less than one million. A “normal” sperm count is 15 million to one million per millimeter, so the idea is that by dropping that to less than one million is quite dramatic and can make the possibility of pregnancy less likely. While he couldn’t share specific details, the results are “very promising,” he said.
Want more health and science stories in your inbox? Subscribe to Salon’s weekly newsletter Lab Notes. The daily pills are only in the first phase of their research and development. They work by suppressing hormones that initiate sperm production, not unlike the hormone suppression that is key to some forms of female birth control.
But this really only scratches the surface of what could be on the horizon. One option, that Nguyen isn’t directly involved with,
