Seattle ? Step up to the pharmacy counter, answer 23 questions and walk out with birth control pills.

That’s all it takes for women enrolled in a study that is believed to be the first effort in the nation to offer hormonal contraceptives at drugstores without a doctor’s prescription.

The University of Washington project aims to find out if women and pharmacists are comfortable with drugstore delivery of birth control pills, patches and vaginal rings.

That doesn’t mean women should stop going to the doctor for annual checkups to guard against sexually transmitted diseases and other problems. But most medical organizations agree it is not necessary to have a pelvic exam to get birth control pills and the like.

The best situation is for every woman to have immediate access to medical care, “but there are women who don’t have access, and there are some barriers and difficulties,” said Dr. Robert Palmer Jr., an obstetrician-gynecologist on the study’s advisory board. Palmer also is state chairman for the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

The study is also embraced by family-planning and population-control experts.

James Trussell, director of the Office of Population Research at Princeton University, hopes the idea will spread.

“It’s a terrific idea. Seeing a pharmacist is just fine for these methods,” he said.

More than 50 women have enrolled since the study was launched Feb. 23 by the UW School of Pharmacy and Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology with funding from the National Institutes of Health. Researchers hope to enroll 300 women.

Women 18 to 45 years old can visit any of eight Fred Meyer or Bartell pharmacies in Seattle and its suburbs, complete a health questionnaire and have their weight and blood pressure checked.

If they pass a good-health checklist, they can obtain three months of birth control pills or patches right away, and an additional nine months’ worth at a follow-up visit. The price is $25 per visit plus the medicine. Insurance companies generally will not pay.

Pharmacists get eight hours of special training and operate under a set of rules approved by a doctor — an arrangement already permitted by the state for other types of medicines.

They screen out women who are very obese, are heavy smokers or have high blood pressure, a history of breast cancer, blood clots or other risk factors.

Common side effects of hormonal birth control are irregular bleeding, nausea, vomiting, breast tenderness and swelling.