Packing containers of the drug mifepristone sit on a shelf on the West Alabama Girls’s Middle in Tuscaloosa, Ala., on March 16, 2022.
Allen G. Breed/AP
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Allen G. Breed/AP
Packing containers of the drug mifepristone sit on a shelf on the West Alabama Girls’s Middle in Tuscaloosa, Ala., on March 16, 2022.
Allen G. Breed/AP
CVS and Walgreens, two of the nation’s largest retail pharmacies, obtained federal certification to start allotting mifepristone, one among two medication utilized in medicine abortions, in states the place it’s authorized to take action, the businesses individually confirmed to NPR.
CVS will begin filling prescriptions for mifepristone in Massachusetts and Rhode Island within the weeks forward, with eventual plans to broaden to different states the place the drug is authorized on a rolling foundation, in response to a CVS spokeswoman.
Walgreens will start allotting the capsule at a few of its shops in New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, California and Illinois inside every week, a spokesman for the corporate mentioned.
“We’re starting a phased rollout in choose areas to permit us to make sure high quality, security, and privateness for our sufferers, suppliers, and group members,” the Walgreens assertion learn.
The 2 pharmacies obtained certification from the Meals and Drug Administration to fill prescriptions and dispense the generally used capsule, increasing entry to abortion at a time when many states are additional limiting a path to the process.
Final yr, the FDA handed a rule that permits pharmacies to fill prescriptions for abortion tablets. Earlier than this rule change was finalized, pregnant folks needed to get the drug straight from their docs or by mail by way of telehealth consultations.
Mifepristone stays on the heart of an ongoing authorized battle between anti-abortion activists and the FDA. Anti-abortion rights teams sued the company in 2022 over the approval of mifepristone — a drug that had been in use for greater than 20 years.
A federal decide dominated in opposition to the abortion capsule final yr. However, the U.S. Supreme Courtroom will hear this case later this month.
President Biden referred to as the transfer to certify the sale by the 2 main pharmacies “an vital milestone in guaranteeing entry to mifepristone.”
He mentioned in a press release, “I encourage all pharmacies that need to pursue this feature to hunt certification.”
