Walgreens and CVS, the two largest pharmacy chains in the U.S., plan to provide abortion pills in store following a recent FDA regulatory change that permitted retail pharmacies to dispense the medicine.
Under the agency’s rule revision, pharmacies can apply to become certified to offer mifepristone, which can terminate pregnancies in the first-trimester in conjunction with a second drug, misoprostol. One of two manufacturers, GenBioPro and Danco Laboratories, must certify the pharmacies. Patients will be able to receive mifepristone only from the pharmacy if it obtained a prescription from a certified health provider. Before the FDA’s latest policy update, patients had to pick up the pill from a few mail-order pharmacies or in person at a hospital, clinic, or physician’s office.
A Walgreens spokesperson told Axios that the company intends “to become a certified pharmacy.”
“We’re working through the registration, necessary training of our pharmacists, as well as evaluating our pharmacy network in terms of where we normally dispense products that have extra FDA requirements and will dispense these consistent with federal and state laws,” the spokesperson said.
A CVS spokesperson similarly told the outlet that the pharmacy will “seek certification to dispense mifepristone where legally permissible.” Certified pharmacies must also be equipped able to ship mifepristone using a shipping service that provides tracking information.
Some states have restricted access to abortion pills, which pharmacies will have to comply with. In May, Tennessee enacted a law criminalizing the mailing of abortion pills, with punishment of 20 years in prison and a $50,000 fine. In Texas, abortion pills are banned at seven weeks of gestation, and in Indiana they’re banned at ten weeks of gestation.
South Dakota governor Kristi Noem tried to ban the mailing of abortion pills via executive order, but last February a federal judge halted the ban from taking effect. In November, a Kansas judge blocked enforcement of legislation that prohibited doctors from prescribing abortion pills via telemedicine in the state.
The FDA approved mifepristone for chemical abortion in 2000. Medication abortions now account for more than half of all abortions in the U.S.