[redis_mlc]

That's a great quote.

In a lot of countries, you have to be married to even get family planning advice, so that's a hindrance.

The US has its own problems with requiring current prescriptions ($$) for anything, including the pill.

(For non-US readers, a doctor's office visit without insurance is typically $100 in SF, if you can find one with a patient list opening. Plus filling the prescription.)

Refillable natural gas containers would also help reduce deforestation. They're commonly used in SE Asian homes, but should be expanded to areas still cutting down trees for firewood.

[fragmede]

That's not entirely accurate. San Francisco, and the rest of California, changed the law in 2016 so that properly trained pharmacists are allowed to prescribe the birth control pill. That training is part of the standard curriculum for new pharmacists, and training is available for pharmacists who got their license before that became part of the curriculum. Anecdotally, I will also say that Planned Parenthood of California is pretty decently funded and are able to offer IUDs (Mirena) and Depoprevera (the shot) at a reasonable price, with and with-out insurance.

This practice is not limited to California, either. Washington DC and nine other states - Colorado, Hawaii, Maryland, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Oregon, Tennessee, Washington, and Utah – allow pharmacists to prescribe birth control.

https://www.goodrx.com/blog/heres-how-to-get-birth-control-w...

[Roritharr]

Interesting, what other medications are US Pharmacist's allowed to prescribe? (Your Link won't open outside of the US)

Antibiotics is one of the few reasons I do doctors visits every few years when I have a particularly bad inflammation of something, besides this I rarely get sick enough to need a doctor.

[redis_mlc]

That's a big improvement, but there is some fine print per pharmacy:

https://www.cvs.com/content/pharmacy/womens-health/faq

[lostlogin]

It gets better, whatever that link gives is inaccessible from outside the US, but notes “CVS.com® is not available to customers or patients who are located outside of the United States or U.S. territories. We apologize for any inconvenience.

For U.S. military personnel permanently assigned or on temporary duty overseas, please call our Customer Service team at 1-800-SHOP CVS (1-800-746-7287) if you need assistance with your order.“

[maxerickson]

Which part of that page are you calling fine print?

It does say that the pharmacist has to be there to prescribe the birth control and things like that, but that isn't something I would call fine print.

[thayne]

> a doctor's office visit without insurance is typically $100 in SF

Wait, really? That's less than I usually pay with insurance (in the US, on a High-deductible plan).

[unishark]

You don't need a prescription for condoms anywhere.

There are plenty of free clinics in SF.

All kinds of hormone-based drugs generally require prescriptions. There's exceptions you can find but they only seem to have really weak effects from what I've seen.