Pharmacies can now dispense abortion medication to patients with a prescription.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration made a change in their risk evaluation and mitigation strategies that will allow pharmacies to dispense the abortion medication mifepristone, instead of patients going to their doctors for the pill. This change will expand access to abortion for some, but those living in states with near-total abortion bans will not be affected by the FDA’s rule.
Mifepristone blocks progesterone, a hormone needed for a pregnancy to continue, and can be used alongside the medication misoprostol, which is a drug most often used to manage miscarriages, to induce an abortion in the first trimester of pregnancy. In the past, access to medicated abortion could only be obtained from certified healthcare providers. The move is a result of the FDA’s response to the COVID–19 pandemic, which saw the organization implement temporary rules allowing telehealth providers to prescribe mifepristone and for the medication to be shipped by mail. Those rules have now been made permanent, meaning brick–and–mortar pharmacies can now obtain certification and dispense mifepristone.
The abortion pill will not be available everywhere, as pharmacies will have to choose to undergo the certification process. Experts predict massive chains like Walgreens and CVS will be hesitant to get certified due to the controversy of abortion, and it’s likely that smaller, independent pharmacies will undergo the process.
In June 2022, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade after half a century. The decision led to 13 states enacting near-total abortion bans.