Michigan pharmacists to prescribe birth control under new law

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed legislation Monday enabling Michigan pharmacists to prescribe hormonal contraceptives.

House Bill 5436 signed by Whitmer will allow pharmacists to issue prescriptions for hormonal contraceptives such as patches, vaginal rings, pills and emergency contraceptives. By the fall of 2026, the state's licensing agency and pharmacy board must develop rules to implement the change.

With the governor's signature, Michigan joins Washington, D.C. and 30 other states that allow pharmacists to prescribe contraceptives, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive health research and advocacy group.

Whitmer also signed House Bill 5435 which requires insurance coverage of contraception prescribed by a pharmacist.

Democrats who supported the bills described them as a way of expanding access to birth control in Michigan. Democratic lawmakers passed the bills along party lines against GOP opposition during the previous legislative session.

Whitmer said the bills she signed will make obtaining birth control more convenient. "Right now, if you want to get most birth control pills, you have to make an appointment with your doctor maybe take time off work or find child care to go into the office, pay your co-pay and after all that, you still have to go to a pharmacy to actually pick up your medication. Let's call it what it is: unnecessary government red tape that slows down busy Michiganders who are just trying to get through their to-do list," she said in a video on her X account.

Whitmer also signed several bills that also passed during the previous legislative session related to maternal and newborn health, including legislation to create a scholarship program to cover the cost of doula training, mandate health insurance coverage of blood pressure monitors used by women during a pregnancy and right after one and require hospitals to provide information on the process for adding a newborn to a health insurance policy.

During the bill signing spree, Whitmer also approved House Bill 4224 repealing Michigan's unenforceable law requiring Medicaid recipients to work or undergo job training to maintain health coverage. Democrats passed the bill in a party-line vote, overcoming objections from Republicans.

Former Gov. Rick Snyder, a Republican, signed Michigan's Medicaid work requirement into law in 2018. The federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services under President Donald Trump's first presidency gave formal approval to Michigan's Medicaid work requirements several months later. But a federal judge struck them down before they went into effect, and about a year later President Joe Biden's administration rescinded the waiver previously granted under his predecessor to allow Michigan to implement the work requirements.

Contact Clara Hendrickson at chendrickson@freepress.com or 313-296-5743.