The Food and Drug Administration is considering allowing birth-control pills to be sold without a prescription. Some conservatives are raising predictable objections, but others appear to grasp the obvious: If the anti-abortion-rights movement truly is motivated solely by a desire to prevent abortions, without a broader agenda of imposing religious dogma or subjugating women, its adherents should be the loudest voices for making reliable birth control as easily accessible as possible.
After 63 years, the FDA is finally giving its first-ever consideration of approval for an over-the-counter birth-control pill (the French-made Opill). It's late in coming by global standards. More than 100 countries already allow over-the-counter oral contraceptives.
We would argue that abortion rights and easily accessible birth control share a common imperative: allowing women to make their own reproductive choices, free of governmental coercion in this most private of topics. But those who seek to end abortion rights should at least recognize their own special obligation to expand rather than close off other avenues of choice. To the extent that's happening, it's a bright spot in this otherwise darkening era for women.