WASHINGTON (BP) – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced Thursday (July 13) its decision to allow over-the-counter sales of the birth control pill Opill. It is the first such oral contraceptive to be made available without a prescription.

In a statement on the FDA’s website, Dr. Patrizia Cavazzoni, director of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, said, “daily oral contraception is safe and is expected to be more effective than currently available nonprescription contraceptive methods in preventing unintended pregnancy.”

The FDA’s decision, the statement said, applies only to Opill, made by Laboratoire HRA Pharma, which was recently purchased by Ireland-based pharmaceutical company Perrigo.

Opill is an older class of hormone-based contraceptives, which generally carry fewer side-effects than newer methods, The Associated Press reported.

Southern Baptists have not taken a collective stance on oral contraception since its introduction in the 1960s. They have, in a few resolutions, decried its distribution to minors.