Lawmakers overwhelmingly oppose a plan to allow pharmacists to prescribe hormonal and oral contraception, but the measure may come back.
The House Health Care Licenses Committee opposed a plan by Schaumburg Democrat Michelle Mussman that would give pharmacists the right to prescribe contraception as well as dispense it. Mussman says her plan would expand access to contraception to low-income women who cannot afford to see a doctor.
Opponents to the plan say it would create a shortcut that could potentially decrease the likelihood a woman would regularly see her physician if she could simply go to a pharmacist instead.
A leader at the Illinois State Medical Society says the plan blurs the lines of areas of expertise between doctors and pharmacists.
The committee agreed to hear the plan again after Mussman and opponents have agreed on amendment language.
