SALEM, Ore. (AP) — It's like a ritual for women across the nation: frequent treks to the pharmacist to refill birth control prescriptions. 
 
 Gov. Kate Brown signs a bill expanding access to contraception during a ceremony at the state Capitol in Salem, Ore., on Thursday, June 11, 2015. The bill makes Oregon the first state to require insurers... (Associated Press) 
 
 Gov. Kate Brown signs a bill expanding access to contraception during a ceremony at the state Capitol in Salem, Ore., on Thursday, June 11, 2015. The bill makes Oregon the first state to require insurers... (Associated Press) 
 
 It's a hassle for busy students, a headache for rural women with long drives and a cause for panic for travelers on the road when their packs run out. 
 
 Soon, however, women in Oregon will be able to avoid such problems. The state has enacted a first-of-its-kind insurance law that will allow them to obtain a year's worth of birth control at a time, instead of the 30- or 90- day supply available now. 
 
 Gov. Kate Brown signed the legislation Thursday, saying it "has a simple premise that I wholeheartedly believe in: increase access and decrease barriers." 
 
 Supporters say the measure will reduce unintended pregnancies and make things easier for women, because they won't need to visit pharmacies as often. 
 
 The plan passed the Legislature easily and is part of a push from Democrats and Republicans alike to expand access to birth control in the state. Oregon legislators also are considering a widely supported proposal that would allow pharmacists to write birth control prescriptions for women who pass a self-administered risk-screening assessment. 
 
 The Catholic Church opposes contraceptive expansion, saying Oregon's measures could have "moral implications and social consequences." 
 
 Critics of the new law say it could increase health care costs for employers and insurers. It could be wasteful to dispense a year's worth of pills, for example, because a woman may decide to stop taking them or choose to switch prescriptions, they say. 
 
 "To me it's just a checkbook issue, plain and simple," Rep. Julie Parrish, a West Linn Republican, who opposed the measure. 
 
 Mary Nolan, interim executive director of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Oregon, said the benefits of the plan "are so obvious once you point them out. People had been accustomed to going along with 30 days for so long that people hadn't really questioned it." 
 
 She said the proposal has drawn interest from lawmakers in California, New York and Washington state. A similar measure is pending in Washington, D.C., reproductive rights expert Elizabeth Nash said. 
 
 Insurance companies typically cover a 30- or 90-day supply of contraception, Nash said. But a year's supply "would reduce the potential for skipping pills or not having her patch or ring when she needs it," the Guttmacher Institute researcher said. 
 
 The plan would require women to first get a three-month supply to make sure there are no adverse reactions. Subsequent prescriptions could be filled for a year at a time. 
 
 It goes into effect Jan. 1. 
 
 Oregon's moves to expand access to contraception stand in contrast to efforts elsewhere. 
 
 Some conservative states have focused on allowing pharmacists to opt out of dispensing contraception if they have religious objections. And a recently passed Missouri law would have required insurers to issue policies that don't cover birth control if individuals or employers said contraceptives violate their moral or religious beliefs. A federal judge, however, struck that down last year as unconstitutional. 
 
 Nolan said Oregon has traditionally been a champion for women's rights, citing a 1969 move to decriminalize abortion that came several years before Roe v. Wade. 
 
 "We have a long history," she said, "of really strong advocates for health care for women — and particularly around reproductive health care." 
 
 ___ 
 
 Associated Press writers Jonathan J. Cooper and Summer Ballentine in Jefferson City, Missouri, contributed to this report. ||||| Rates of unintended pregnancies and abortions decrease significantly when women receive a one-year supply of oral contraceptives, instead of being prescribed one- or three-month supplies, a UCSF study shows. 
 
 Researchers observed a 30 percent reduction in the odds of pregnancy and a 46 percent decrease in the odds of an abortion in women given a one-year supply of birth control pills at a clinic versus women who received the standard prescriptions for one – or three-month supplies. 
 
 The researchers speculate that a larger supply of oral contraceptive pills may allow more consistent use, since women need to make fewer visits to a clinic or pharmacy for their next supply. 
 
 “Women need to have contraceptives on hand so that their use is as automatic as using safety devices in cars, ” said Diana Greene Foster, PhD, lead author and associate professor in the UCSF Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences. “Providing one cycle of oral contraceptives at a time is similar to asking people to visit a clinic or pharmacy to renew their seatbelts each month.” 
 
 Foster also is director of research for Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health, part of the UCSF Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health. Her study’s findings appear online in the journal Obstetrics and Gynecology . 
 
 The researchers linked 84,401 women who received oral contraceptives in January 2006 through Family PACT (Planning, Access, Care, Treatment), a California family planning program, to Medi-Cal data showing pregnancies and births in 2006. Through Family PACT, some family planning clinics are able to dispense a one-year supply of pills on-site. 
 
 Oral contraceptive pills are the most commonly used method of reversible contraception in the United States, the team states. While highly effective when used correctly (three pregnancies per 1,000 women in the first year of use), approximately half of women regularly miss one or more pills per cycle, a practice associated with a much higher pregnancy rate (80 pregnancies per 1,000 women in the first year of use), according to the team. 
 
 The findings of this study have implications for women using oral contraceptives across the country. Most oral contraceptive users in the United States get fewer than four packs at a time; nearly half need to return every month for resupply, according to a 2010 study published in Contraception . 
 
 Making oral contraceptive pills more accessible may reduce the incidence of unintended pregnancy and abortion, while saving taxpayers’ dollars, the researchers state. If the 65,000 women in the analysis who received either one or three packs of pills at a time had experienced the same pregnancy and abortion rates as women who received a one-year supply, almost 1,300 publicly funded pregnancies and 300 abortions would have been averted, according to the team. 
 
 “The evidence indicates that health plans and public health programs may avoid paying for costly unintended pregnancies by increasing dispensing limits on oral contraceptives,” said Foster. “Improving access to contraceptive methods reduces the need for abortion and helps women to plan their pregnancies.” 
 
 Co-authors are Denis Hulett, Mary Bradsberry, Phillip Darney, MD, MSc, and Michael Policar, MD, MPH, all with the Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health, UCSF Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences, and San Francisco General Hospital. 
 
 UCSF is a leading university dedicated to promoting health worldwide through advanced biomedical research, graduate-level education in the life sciences and health professions, and excellence in patient care. ||||| SALEM -- With a bit of fanfare, one of Oregon's landmark attempts at expanded access to birth control is about to become law. 
 
 Gov. Kate Brown on Thursday afternoon is planning a signing ceremony for House Bill 3343, which requires Oregon's insurers, for the first time, to cover 12-month supplies of birth control. 
 
 The legislation was a top priority for Planned Parenthood Advocates of Oregon, which said in a statement that "the law will make Oregon the first state in the nation to require health insurance companies to give a year's supply of the pill, the patch or the ring at the same time." 
 
 A 2011 study from the University of California-San Francisco found a 30 percent drop in unplanned pregnancies for women who have 12-month supplies of contraceptives instead of the typical 30- to 90-day refills many insurers currently cover. 
 
 HB 3343 reached Brown's desk last week after clearing the Senate 28-0. The bill passed the House 55-2 in April. 
 
 "We were pleased to hear from several male legislators who testified that they deferred to their wives in seeking guidance on their vote," Alicia Temple, policy director of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Oregon, said in a statement. "It was a clear illustration of why birth control decisions should stay between a woman and her doctor, not politicians." 
 
 Still unclear is the fate of Oregon's other major birth control legislation. House Bill 2879, which would let pharmacists write on-demand prescriptions for birth control pills, has been parked in the Senate's rules committee since clearing the House last week 50-10. 
 
 The bill, championed by Rep. Knute Buehler, R-Bend, had died earlier this session -- only to win a rapid resurrection with help from House Majority Leader Val Hoyle, D-Eugene. 
 
 Observers say Buehler, who represents purple-hued downtown Bend, has been pressured by Democrats in recent weeks as they look to peel GOP votes away for priorities such as a transportation funding package. Progress on that package has been held up by a fight over low-carbon fuel standards approved early in the session. 
 
 Buehler's bill, if approved, would make the Oregon the second state to give its assent pharmacy prescriptions, after California. But because California has yet to put the policy into effect, Oregon could become the first to actually offer them. 
 
 -- Denis C. Theriault 
 
 dtheriault@oregonian.com 
 
 503-221-8430; @TheriaultPDX
– Oregon women can stock up on the birth control patch, pill, or ring after Gov. Kate Brown signed House Bill 3343 into law yesterday. The legislation, which goes into effect next year, requires insurers to offer 12-month supplies of the contraceptives, instead of the usual 30- or 90-day prescriptions. The bill easily passed the state’s Senate and House of Representatives, and Gov. Brown called it a no-brainer. "[It] has a simple premise that I wholeheartedly believe in," she said, according to the AP. "Increase access and decrease barriers." Oregon is the first state in the country to allow a year's worth of birth control to be obtained at the same time. In a 2011 study, researchers at the University of California San Francisco found that when women had a year’s worth of birth control on hand, unplanned pregnancies dropped by 30%. "Women need to have contraceptives on hand so that their use is as automatic as using safety devices in cars," said the lead author. A bill that would allow Oregon pharmacists to write prescriptions for birth control pills is pending in the state Senate after being passed by the House 50-10 last week, according to the Oregonian. California recently passed similar legislation, but it has not yet taken effect.