Federal regulators Thursday approved the first over-the-counter birth control pill available in the United States, a milestone in decades-long efforts to make oral contraceptives easier to obtain, especially by teenagers and women who don’t regularly see a doctor.

The US government has approved the first-ever over-the-counter birth control pill.

The Food and Drug Administration announced on Thursday birth control pill Opill will be available without a prescription for women of all ages.

In a statement, the agency said the move would help reduce women's barriers to accessing contraception.

The manufacturer of the progestin-only pill has said Opill will most likely be available over the counter in 2024.

The Food and Drug Administration announced on Thursday morning its approval of the progestin-only oral contraceptive Opill for over-the-counter use.

“Today’s approval marks the first time a nonprescription daily oral contraceptive will be an available option for millions of people in the United States,” said the Director of the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, Patrizia Cavazzoni.

This decision comes after an advisory panel in May unanimously supported the proposal to grant over-the-counter approval to the Irish-based company Perrigo's contraceptive.

Accessing birth control pills could soon become a lot easier in America.

Advisers to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will meet next week to evaluate drugmaker HRA Pharma's application for its decades-old daily birth control pill Opill to be sold in the U.S. without requiring a prescription.

The public meeting is one of the final steps before the FDA makes a decision, but concerns raised by the agency in an initial review published Friday indicate the approval is not guaranteed.

Republicans in staunchly conservative states are championing some atypical legislation this session — promoting sex education, government welfare and more birth control.

The proposals are part of what some governors and lawmakers have referred to as a “new pro-life agenda” for the post-Roe era — one that is increasingly breaking with their party’s socially conservative approach to maternal and reproductive health in favor of one more commonly pushed by Democrats.

Justice Samuel Alito denied allegations Saturday from a former anti-abortion activist that his wife, Martha-Ann Alito, played a role in revealing the outcome of a pending Supreme Court case in 2014. An Ohio woman friendly with the Alitos who was a donor to a Supreme Court-connected nonprofit group and allegedly served as a conduit for the sensitive information has also denied the claim.

The Food and Drug Administration has slated a joint committee meeting to review pharmaceutical company Perrigo's application to make its birth control pills available over the counter, which would be the first-ever daily birth control medication to be available without a prescription.

The Nonprescription Drugs Advisory Committee and the Obstetrics, Reproductive, and Urologic Drugs Advisory Committee will consider if the company's nonestrogen oral contraceptive can be made available without a prescription on Nov. 18.

The House on Thursday passed legislation to codify access to contraception nationwide, moving over almost unanimous Republican opposition to protect a right that is regarded as newly under threat after the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade.

The measure is almost certain to fail in the evenly divided Senate, where most Republicans are also likely to be opposed. The vote was the latest election-year move by Democrats to draw a sharp distinction with Republicans on a social issue that has broad support.

The House plans to vote this week to codify same-sex marriage and legal contraception nationwide, fearing that the Supreme Court could rescind those rights after it overturned the constitutional right to abortion last month.

The day the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, plunging the country into chaos over what was once a constitutionally protected right, Google search rules for abortion pills increased tenfold.