AB 968: Contraceptives.

Session Year: 2025-2026
House: Assembly
Latest Version Date: 2025-07-09

Current Status:

In Progress

(2025-09-13: Ordered to inactive file at the request of Senator Pérez.)

Introduced

In Committee

First Chamber

In Committee

Second Chamber

Enacted

Version:

Existing law, the Pharmacy Law, establishes, in the Department of Consumer Affairs, the California State Board of Pharmacy to license and regulate the practice of pharmacy.

Existing law prohibits a health care licentiate from obstructing a patient in obtaining a prescription drug or device that has been legally prescribed or ordered for that patient and requires a licentiate to dispense drugs and devices pursuant to a lawful order or prescription, except under specified circumstances. Existing law applies these provisions to emergency contraception drug therapy and self-administered hormonal contraceptives.This bill would, instead, make those provisions applicable to emergency contraception drug therapy, over-the-counter contraceptives, and prescription-only contraceptives.

Existing law authorizes a physician and surgeon, nurse practitioner, registered nurse, and specified other health care practitioners acting within the scope of their practice to use a self-screening tool to identify patient risk factors for the use of self-administered hormonal contraceptives by a patient and, after examination, to prescribe, furnish, or dispense self-administered hormonal contraceptives to the patient.

This bill would, instead, make those provisions applicable to contraceptives.

Existing law authorizes a pharmacist to furnish emergency contraception drug therapy and self-administered hormonal contraceptives in accordance with specified requirements, including notifying the patients primary care provider of the drug or device furnished to the patient or satisfying one of specified alternative requirements.This bill would, instead, authorize a pharmacist to furnish emergency contraception drug therapy, over-the-counter contraceptives, and prescription-only contraceptives pursuant to those provisions.

Existing law authorizes a pharmacist to furnish self-administered hormonal contraceptives in accordance with standardized procedures or protocols developed and approved by both the California State Board of Pharmacy and the Medical Board of California, in consultation with specified other entities.

This bill would, instead, would authorize a pharmacist to also furnish prescription-only federal Food and Drug Administration-approved nonhormonal contraceptives in accordance with those standardized procedures or protocols. The bill would authorize a pharmacist to furnish over-the-counter contraceptives without the standardized procedures or protocols. The bill would require a pharmacist, for each federal Food and Drug Administration-approved nonhormonal contraceptives initiated, to provide the recipient with a standardized fact sheet, as specified.

Existing law prohibits a pharmacist, pharmacists employer, or pharmacists agent from directly charging a patient a separate consultation fee for emergency contraception drug therapy services and requires the pharmacist to disclose the total retail price of the emergency contraception drug therapy. Existing law makes those provisions inoperative for dedicated emergency contraception drugs if these drugs are reclassified as over-the-counter products by the federal Food and Drug Administration.

This bill would delete those provisions.

Existing law requires a pharmacist to dispense, at a patients request, up to a 12-month supply of an FDA-approved, self-administered hormonal contraceptive.

This bill would, instead, make those provisions applicable to contraceptives.

This bill would make related conforming changes.

Discussed in Hearing