female condom

Female Condom Campaigns across the Country Commend Walgreens as First Pharmacy to Make New Female Condom Available at Select Locations Nationwide

Sexual health providers and advocates around the country are celebrating expanded access to a critical addition in the HIV prevention toolkit: the female condom.  The second generation female condom, or FC2, is now stocked at 400 Walgreens locations.  The cost of a pack of three condoms ranges between $5.99 and $7.99, about a third of the cost of the original version of the female condom.  Consumers can also purchase female condoms at Walgreens.com. 

“Limited access to female condoms has long been a barrier to use.  The Chicago Female Condom Campaign commends Walgreens for making a business decision that will help women and men across the U.S. access the prevention tools they need to stay healthy,” says Jessica Terlikowski, co-founder and chair of the Chicago Female Condom Campaign. “HIV prevention educators, advocates, and service providers are proud to have a private sector partner like Walgreens prioritize the public’s health. We urge other commercial pharmacies to follow Walgreens commitment to reduce new HIV and STI infections and make the new female condom available in their stores.”

Exactly one week before the annual commemoration of National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, the feminist blog Jezebel responded with intense skepticism to the USA Today headline claiming that female condoms (FCs) are gaining broader acceptance in U.S. cities. Citing the experience of one woman who did not enjoy using FCs and had difficulty locating them, the blogger casts them as nothing but a “sad sack of contraception options.”  Several readers’ comments belittled the safer sex tool as novelty or a joke and questioned why anyone would use it. While such mockery of the female condom is not uncommon, it is particularly disappointing when dismissed by those who purportedly support the reproductive health and rights of women and girls.

By Joyce C. Tang via The Daily Beast

The first version of the female condom made a weird noise, fell out, and was expensive, too. Now public health experts are pushing a new and improved version in American cities. Can it overcome stigma?

Until recently, Leslie Evans, a case manager at Vital Bridges, a nonprofit HIV/AIDS outreach program in Chicago, had never heard of the female condom. "I couldn't even picture one until I saw it," she says. Evans wondered how the female condom worked, who would want to use one, and whether the rings on each end would be uncomfortable. Though her job was to encourage safe sex to her clients, "I never really promoted it," Evans says of the female condom. "Just condoms, condoms, condoms"—and by condoms she means the male version.

A ubiquitous nugget of pop culture advice (“Put a ring on it!”) is the tagline of a new public awareness campaign launched today by a coalition of health organizations that aims to increase the use of a new-and-improved female condom among both women and men.

New Female Condom, FC2, Now Available at More Affordable Price:

Chicago Female Condom Campaign Invites Area Agencies to Participate in Pool Purchasing.

Female and Male Condoms: Whose Responsibility?
by Kimberly Whipkey, Senior Associate for Advocacy and Outreach at the Center for Health and Gender Equity

Sometime during the next six months, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will consider approving the FC2, a second-generation female condom. That appears likely, since an FDA advisory panel unanimously recommended the product in a Dec. 11 vote.

Supporters hope redesigned contraceptive will increase usage

By Judith Graham | Tribune reporter
December 16, 2008

A new, cheaper version of the female condom has won approval from a Food and Drug Administration advisory panel, setting the stage for broader distribution of the product worldwide.