SAUSALITO, CA (ASRN.ORG) -- Nearly every day at the Planned Parenthood Mar Monte health center in Hayward, where I work as a nurse practitioner, there are patients lined up out the door. This is often true at health centers in Silicon Valley and, especially, in California's Central Valley. The acute shortage of physicians serving community clinics means that many people have to wait weeks or months for basic services and medications -- and contraceptives are at the top of that list.

However, the state Assembly just passed a bill, AB2348 by Assemblywoman Holly Mitchell, D-L.A.,that would alleviate some of this problem by allowing registered nurses to dispense birth control under a carefully developed medical protocol. The Access to Birth Control Bill, which now moves to the Senate, is a sensible and practical solution that would make a huge difference to teens, women and families who can least afford contraceptives and are most at risk for unintended pregnancies.

In fact, nationally, health centers that receive federal funding for family planning have seen a 5 percent increase in patients since the recession began four years ago.

I have worked closely with registered nurses in the past, and I know that they are very experienced at assessing patients' needs, which include conducting a thorough review of medical histories and identifying risks -- such as smoking or high blood pressure -- that make certain medications inadvisable. The Access to Birth Control Bill simply allows registered nurses to provide care that is well within the scope of their practice, dispensing birth control to the more than 90 percent of women who have no complicating factors. In the rare cases where patients have more complicated health issues, the R.N. would refer them to a physician or a nurse practitioner.

Having registered nurses available to provide hormonal contraceptives such as the pill, shot, ring and patch would allow me to see more patients in the community. It would free up our constrained resources while ensuring that many more women get the contraceptives they need, even if they are unemployed or don't have health insurance.

Affordable access to basic contraceptives is a fundamental part of women's health care, and it is essential to decreasing the rate of teen pregnancies and the need for abortion. By supporting the Access to Birth Control Bill, the Senate will let California women and families -- and the rest of the nation -- know that the assault on family planning stops here.

All those women standing in line at community health centers and all those who haven't even been able to get appointments for family planning need to know that help is on the way. They are waiting.

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