Nikki Haley supports over-the-counter birth control
Tiana Lowe Doescher
MANCHESTER, NEW HAMPSHIRE — Nikki Haley has faced friendly fire from the Right for advocating for expanded access to birth control, but the Republican presidential nominee doubled down on her support for birth control deregulation during an exclusive interview with the Washington Examiner. Although Haley insists that “anyone under the age of 18” should require a physician’s prescription to obtain oral contraceptives, Haley says that “if anyone over the age of 18 wants to do that, that’s for them to decide.”
“It’s always good to have your doctor involved,” said the former South Carolina governor and Ambassador to the United Nations. “But again, it’s about making sure that people have access. I think contraception needs to be accessible. I think people need to be able to have access to it. I’ve always believed that I think that if you want to empower people, then empower them to make the decisions they need to make. And if there’s someone who doesn’t want to have a baby and wants to take the precautions to not do that they should be able to have access to make sure that happens.”
While 12 states allow hormonal birth control to be sold over the counter, the decision on the federal level rests with the FDA. Iowa Republicans Joni Ernst and Chuck Grassley have repeatedly attempted to pass bills in the Senate to expedite the deregulation process in the FDA, but President Joe Biden has remained mum on the issue despite overseeing the agency. The FDA is currently considering the removal of the prescription requirement for one progestin-only formulation that has been approved in the country for half a century.
Live Action founder Lila Rose previously blasted Haley for supporting birth control access as a part of her pro-life policies, claiming that contraception “creates a culture where abortion is the backup plan.” Haley has also declared her opposition to a federal abortion ban, instead favoring state restrictions, and during this exclusive interview, she reiterated criticism of the Parental Rights in Education bill signed by Governor Ron DeSantis into Florida law.
“When Florida did that ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill that basically said that you couldn’t talk about gender before third grade, I said that didn’t go far enough,” Haley said. “We should not be talking to our kids about gender. I didn’t take sex ed until seventh grade, and even then you had to have a parent’s permission slip. I think parents need to be able to sign whether their kids are going to have sex ed. I don’t think it needs to be an elementary school. I think it needs to be when they get to the teenage years, but I think parents need to be a part of that process.”
DeSantis announced his presidential bid hours after this interview with Haley. He is a distant second in primary polling after former President Donald Trump.