Video, Audio, Photos & Rush Transcript: Governor Hochul Authorizes Pharmacists to Provide Hormonal Contraception Without a Prescription

Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul announced a New York State Department of Health standing order authorizing pharmacists to dispense three types of hormonal contraception medication without a prescription. This measure makes it easier for people who have difficulty accessing a primary care provider to get safe and effective contraception at their local pharmacy, and furthers New York State’s mission to provide safe and legal family planning care to all.

VIDEO of Governor Hochul and Commissioner McDonald signing the standing order and delivering remarks is available on YouTube here and in TV quality (h.264, mp4) format.

AUDIO of the Governor's remarks is available here.

PHOTOS of the event are available on the Governor's Flickr page.

A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:

 Governor Hochul: Great to see everyone. Well, we'll be brief because we don't want to disrupt the operations of this amazing place at the Albany College of Pharmacy – the College Parkside Pharmacy. Why are we here today? We're here to talk about the fact that birth control is part of the whole array of healthcare services that we believe should be more accessible to women.

And I want to thank a Senator Toby Ann Stavisky, she's not able to join us this morning, but also Assemblymember Amy Paulin for reminding us that we can do more here in the State of New York to make contraception much more accessible to the public. I want to thank Commissioner James McDonald for his leadership on what we're about to do in a couple moments, and Dave Shippee, the CEO of the Whitney Young Health Center, for welcoming us here today. And to all the patients for being very patient with us. We'll be out of here in a couple moments.

This is a big moment for women of New York. Up until now, you could not walk into a pharmacy and be able to purchase contraception to meet your various healthcare needs. And as a result of legislation that was proposed and we signed last year, starting today, any woman walking into a New York State pharmacy will be able to purchase birth control – the best birth control method that meets her needs. That's especially for women in areas where there aren't as many practitioners available to them – our rural communities, low income populations, which oftentimes are medical deserts, and those that are least likely to have access to a doctor.

So, it's a new era for New York State, for the women of our State, to deal with whatever health care needs that would be met by access to contraception. So, reproductive rights continue to be under attack all the way from Washington to state houses across our great country – and just another way to reaffirm our commitment to making sure that women in the State of New York have all these rights to reproductive freedom, as well as to access to contraception, so they can make their own decisions about their bodies.

So, with that, I’d like to turn this over to Commissioner McDonald to sign the order. Want to read the order to us?

Commissioner James McDonald: Thank you, Governor. I'm hereby prescribing this non patient specific order to dispense hormonal contraceptives as defined by State Chapter 128 of the Law of 2023, Chapter 128, as amended by Chapter 90 of the Laws of 2024, has made Chapter 120 retroactively to January of 2024. Specifically, pharmacists or employees, volunteers, or contractors of the pharmacy licensed in New York State may dispense hormonal contraception. So, let me sign the order.

Governor Hochul: Alright and I will witness this. Let me witness it. Alright, it is now official in the great State of New York. Contraception is now available at the pharmacy. Thank you, Commissioner.

 Governor Hochul: Good morning and thank you for joining us once again. I'm here to reiterate that birth control is essential health care – full stop. And we need to allow families and individuals to plan for their own lives, whether they want to start a family or not start a family, pursue their dreams and achieve their full potential.

And it comes down to half the population, women having full control over their own bodies. And we also want to make sure that they have birth control easily available to deal with other health care problems that arise – endometriosis, irregular cycles, acne and others. That's why just moments ago, joined by Commissioner James McDonald, who I witnessed sign an order that going forward that individuals without a prescription can now go to a pharmacy to secure the necessary birth control.

We talk about the challenges that we're facing here as a nation when it comes to the rights of women. It's been a hard, discouraging time for all of us. And when Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022 by an extremist far right Supreme Court, we faced a turning point because people started saying, “Well, what next?” Because that was considered fairly sacrosanct in our country. And you think about the fact that generations of fighting and advocacy and marching on the streets and petitioning legislatures and the Supreme Court to do the right thing, all of it was just reversed with the stroke of a pen. And we realize now that that was just the beginning.

States have now been enacting abortion bans in as little as two weeks. Restricting access to medication abortion, and of course, why not go after IVF as well because they don't respect the rights of anyone to control their bodies. And Congress members, Republicans in Congress, even blocked a bill that would have protected the right to contraception.

And women across this State, I speak on behalf of all of them, are sick and tired of extremist judges and legislators and even candidates for president who are willing to entertain the thought of a nationwide ban on abortion. What have we come to? Discouraging to say the least.

And that's why, as Governor, I've worked hard to remind everyone here that long as I'm Governor, their rights are protected, that this is deeply personal to me as a mother and a woman in this State, and I want to make sure that New York remains a sanctuary for all levels of care for women.

And we talked about this in the past. We directed initially a $35 million access to reproductive health care, mandated that all insurance companies in the State of New York cover abortion and we stockpiled medication abortion pills when there was a threat to those as well. But now, we wanted to fulfill my commitment that I made in 2023 to make birth control easier to access.

Starting today, pharmacies are now allowed to dispense three different types of contraception medication. And any woman can walk into a participating pharmacy and choose the birth control method that best suits her needs. And this will dramatically, dramatically increase access to this for women, particularly at a time when women are feeling discouraged and not listened to and powerless. That here in New York, you have the power to walk into a pharmacy, just like where we are here today, and to make that decision that I want this. I want to be able to control the process. I want to control my life. I want to have my rights back again.

So, it's just a start. It's important, but especially for people who live in parts of our state where getting an appointment with the doctor could take months and months and months. And that's the reality that many live with rural areas, urban areas. There's a lot of parts of our state that it’s just a big hassle to walk in and get that prescription and then they're not protected and able to control their own destiny.

So, even if you, like I said, if you live even close to a doctor, it takes so long now to schedule appointments and it shouldn't be this hard to access basic health care needs. It's not about convenience, it's about our statement of our values.

And so, we continue the fight. We're going to do everything we can again. I thank Commissioner McDonald for his work on making this become a reality. It was passed last May 2nd. We passed and we signed it May 2nd. The effective date was January. We had to wait for the Department of Education to approve it, establish the rules around this and make sure that they had the regulations in place, and that was just accomplished March 12th. And now that that's been done, we wanted to join here today and remind women across the State of New York, it's a new day.

You now have access, easy access, to the contraception that you choose to fit your own personal health care needs, because it is your body, and it is your choice.