The Current State of the Female Condom in America

It was with complete shock that I left Good Vibrations, having just learned that as of Summer 2017, the Female Condom (aka FC2) is no longer available over the counter in the USA. A doctor's prescription is now required to buy them at your local pharmacy (and that's assuming your pharmacy is one of the very few willing to stock female condoms in the first place.) 

Instinctively, I feel a rant developing in me - a mini-tirade bubbling up about how reducing the number of freely-available birth control methods is problematic on a number of different levels - socially, economically, personally. 

However I'm not fond of  ranting and I pride myself on being a problem-solver, so I'm sharing my "Plan B" for those who still want to use these super-convenient, uber-comfortable joy-riders. Can you tell I'm a fan?

There are two options for purchasing female condoms via mail-order that don't require a prescription.

1. The first is via the US website of the manufacturer fc2.us.com. The manufacturer's website offers one-time bulk purchases or a monthly subscription program. A prescription is not required but you will have to pay full price for the condoms (which at the time of this writing is approximately $2.50 each)

2. The second option is to order the British version of the female condom from a European-based condom shop. They are available at worldcondoms.com under the brand name "Pasante" and are identical to the US version.

Both options provide prescription-free, online purchasing with reliable shipping. The European shop accepts Paypal as payment. 

There are other, less-costly options if, for example, you have both a health plan that covers female condoms and a cooperative doctor. However, in the interest of saving time and avoiding unnecessary
doctor appointments, I'm more than happy to order directly and pay a couple dollars more. The convenience is worth the cost to me.

I hope this has been helpful to fellow female-condom fans. I found scant info about US purchasing options and felt it important to put this info out there. If you're already a FC2 fan, you'll understand my enthusiasm for them. Good luck, my friends!