The country’s second-largest retail pharmacy will not sell the abortion-inducing drug mifepristone — even in states where abortion is still legal.
It comes amid mounting pressure from policymakers and anti-abortion activists not to carry the drug. Mifepristone accounts for half of the combination used to induce medical termination of pregnancy.
Walgreens was responding to a letter sent last month by nearly two dozen Republican attorneys general threatening legal action against the company if it stockpiled the drugs.
The chain said it would not drop off abortion pills through the mail or in brick-and-mortar stores in those states. In some of the affected states like Alaska, Iowa, Kansas and Montana, the use of the pills for abortion is still legal.
Drug-induced abortion has been a lifeline for women in blue states and even red states since the Supreme Court removed the federal guarantee for an abortion. However, a lawsuit in Texas is jeopardizing legal access as anti-abortion advocates seek to reverse the drug’s FDA approval
It comes just a few months after the Biden administration updated a regulation allowing mifepristone, part of a two-drug cocktail used to induce miscarriage, to be stocked and dispensed in pharmacies by prescription to pregnant women.
GOP attorneys from those states sent letters to CVS, Rite Aid, Albertsons, Costco, Kroger, and Walmart.
In a response, Danielle Gray of Walgreens’ legal team said, “As you are aware, participating pharmacies must meet a number of safety and risk mitigation requirements in order to be able to dispense this drug in order to be FDA certified.
‘We are currently working on the certification process which will include assessing our pharmacy network to determine where we will be dispensing mifepristone, as well as training protocols and updates for our pharmacists.’
Walgreens’ decision to delay stocking the drug represents another hurdle millions of women face in achieving a safe abortion.
The future of mifepristone is tenuous at best. A lawsuit filed in February by anti-abortion activists in Texas challenging the two-decade-old Food and Drug Administration approval of mifepristone.
Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk appointed to the case is a staunch conservative and was appointed by Donald Trump. He is expected to side with pro-life activists.
Taking the side of the plaintiffs would seriously disrupt access to abortion nationwide. It would make abortion accessible even in states with no restrictions on the procedure.
It is likely that pro-choice advocates would appeal Kacsmaryk’s verdict.
The FDA has eased restrictions on abortion-inducing drugs in recent years.
The active ingredient combination mifepristone and misoprostol has been available in local pharmacies since the beginning of 2023.
Women can also have the pills prescribed via telemedicine and have them sent to them by a foreign provider.
The U.S. Postal Service can legally deliver abortion pills to people in states where the procedure is prohibited or restricted, according to the Justice Department, and says federal law allows the pills to be shipped because the sender cannot know for sure if it is the recipient would use them illegally.
Medical abortion is the most commonly used method of terminating a pregnancy.
In 2020, the two-drug cocktail accounted for 54 percent of all abortions in the United States, up from around 44 percent in 2019.
This is partly due to the rise of telemedicine and a general preference to stay away from doctors’ offices during the pandemic.
The legal landscape for abortion has been in near-constant flux since the Supreme Court dealt a fatal blow to legal access to abortion in a June 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
Abortion rights advocates in blue states, as well as states with abortion restrictions, could take comfort in the knowledge that mifepristone, a drug proven safer than carrying a pregnancy to term, will always be available with the input of a doctor.
But the lawsuit in Texas, added to the growing pressure GOP attorneys are showing here, seriously jeopardizes access to the drug.
For many women, the drug is the only way to terminate a pregnancy.
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