Two of America's largest pharmacy chains, Walgreens and CVS, are preparing to stock the controversial abortion drug mifepristone in a blow to the pro-life movement.
The New York Times reported on Friday that the two companies had received approval to dispense mifepristone by the FDA and that it would be rolled out across all states where abortion is legal.
Among the selected states will include New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, California, and Illinois, all of which have liberal abortion access,
“We are beginning a phased rollout in select locations to allow us to ensure quality, safety and privacy for our patients, providers and team members,” said Walgreens spokesperson Fraser Engerman.
The Times notes that the two companies are also monitoring Republican states such as Kansas, Montana, and Wyoming on the grounds that they have abortion laws that are currently being held up by the courts.
"We continually monitor and evaluate changes in state laws and will dispense mifepristone in any state where it is or becomes legally permissible to do so,” CVS spokeswoman Amy Thibault told the Times.
The move has been slammed by pro-life groups, who described it as "shameful."
"As two of the world’s largest, most trusted ‘health’ brands, the decision by CVS and Walgreens to sell dangerous abortion drugs is shameful, and the harm to unborn babies and their mothers incalculable," Katie Daniel, the state policy director of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, said in a statement.
However, the pills' long-term access may still be in doubt. The FDA is currently engaged in a protracted legal battle with the American Association of Pro-Life OBGYNs and Gynecologists, the American College of Pediatricians, and the Christian Medical & Dental Association over claims that it rushed to get the pill to market without the appropriate safety checks.
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Last December, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to review the case and will likely issue its decision in the coming months. Meanwhile, the White House and its supposedly "devoutly Catholic" occupant, Joe Biden, recently encouraged pharmacies across the nation to start stocking the pill:
Today is an important milestone in ensuring access to mifepristone, a drug that has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration as safe and effective for more than 20 years. With major retail pharmacy chains newly certified to dispense medication abortion, many women will soon have the option to pick up their prescription at a local, certified pharmacy—just as they would for any other medication. I encourage all pharmacies that want to pursue this option to seek certification.
The stakes could not be higher for women across America. In the face of relentless attacks on reproductive freedom by Republican elected officials, Vice President Harris and I will continue to fight to ensure that women can get the health care they need, to defend the Food and Drug Administration’s independent and evidence-based approval and regulation of mifepristone, and to restore the protections of Roe v. Wade in federal law.
According to the FDA, mifepristone is utilized in combination with misoprostol to terminate pregnancies within the first ten weeks of gestation. Although a National Institutes of Health (NIH) study found that misoprostol alone can effectively terminate a pregnancy, the FDA has not specifically authorized it for this purpose.
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