(The Center Square) – Women in Wisconsin are a step closer to having a new choice for birth control.

The State Assembly approved a plan to allow pharmacists in the state to prescribe the pill or a birth control patch. Rep. Joel Kitchens, R-Sturgeon Bay, sponsored the plan.

“Birth control is 99.9% effective when it is used according to directions, and regularly,” Kitchens explained. “The lack of access is the biggest reason that it sometimes fails. Women will leave home for a couple of days and forget about it, or they can’t make it to an appointment with their doctor. And this bill is going to help with all of that.”

Some pro-life Republicans voted against the legislation, claiming they have concerns about women being able to get birth control without speaking to a doctor first.

Kitchens, however, said his proposal is pro-life and pro-family.

“Along with drug addiction, unplanned pregnancy is the number one contributor to generational poverty,” Kitchens added. “Forty percent of unplanned pregnancies are aborted. The abortion rate is about a third of what it was in 1990, in Wisconsin and across the country, and the primary reason for that is increased access and education about birth control.”

Democratic lawmakers said it’s about time Wisconsin expands access to birth control in the state.

The plan passed the Assembly on an 87-10 vote, with both Republican and Democratic votes.

And Republicans may need Democratic votes in the Senate as well.

Kitchens wouldn’t say if he has enough Republican support in the upper chamber to pass the plan.

The Assembly has approved the same, or similar legislation, twice before but it never made it past the Senate.

Kitchens said he’s hopeful this time is different.