It certainly would be convenient if the current crop of prescription birth control were as readily available as over-the-counter cold medicine, condoms, or spermicide jelly. However, there are sound reasons why doctors are the gatekeepers to the most popular and effective birth control methods.

Monitoring Risk

Unlike alternative methods of birth control, prescription birth control is based upon the management of the fertility cycle through hormones. In certain high-risk female populations, these hormones have the potential to cause serious and even fatal conditions, including heart attacks, strokes, and cancer. Then, there is also a list of less serious side-effects that can affect a woman’s general well-being, including migraines, allergic reactions, depression, nausea, bleeding, and discharge. A woman’s doctor will not simply sell her any birth control she wishes to use until he or she has done a complete physical examination and taken a complete medical history to assess her level of risk. Then, to make certain that she continues to take her birth control safely, her doctor requires her to make periodic appointments. This process is especially important because the effect of these hormones changes as a woman ages and as her overall health changes.

On-going Research

Your doctor is the front line in the fight to keep updating the medical research on new and commonly used drugs. When you check in with your doctor on your progress with a particular birth control method, he is able to pass along your results to the pharmaceutical companies and the university research departments. As a result, we all eventually benefit from the collection of this data as the better methods of prescription birth control survive the weeding out process.

Fail-Safe System

Finally, the system of prescribing your hormone-based birth control provides you with a fail-safe system. The pharmacist who fills your prescription is also there to check on any new prescriptions you might be taking that you may have failed to report to your doctor. Both your doctor and your pharmacist are part of a system to prevent you from having any drug interactions that could lead to unwanted side effects and unwanted pregnancy.