Politics

CVS and Walgreens plan to start dispensing abortion pill mifepristone soon

The drugstore chains CVS Health and Walgreens plan to start dispensing an abortion pill in a number of states inside weeks.

CVS Health will start filling prescriptions for mifepristone in Rhode Island and neighboring Massachusetts “in the weeks ahead,” spokeswoman Amy Thibault stated Friday.

Walgreens will start dispensing the remedy inside every week, spokesman Fraser Engerman stated. The chain will start with some areas in New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, California and Illinois.

He stated the corporate was beginning in “in select locations to allow us to ensure quality, safety and privacy for our patients, providers and team members.”

Thibault stated CVS Health will add states “where allowed by law, on a rolling basis.”

The New York Times first reported the retailers’ plans.

CVS Health Corp., the nation’s largest drugstore chain, runs almost 9,400 areas. Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. has about 8,700 U.S. shops.

Their bulletins Friday marked “an important milestone” in guaranteeing mifepristone entry, President Joe Biden stated in an announcement. He famous that many ladies will soon have the ability to decide up their prescriptions at an area, licensed pharmacy like they’d some other remedy.

“I encourage all pharmacies that want to pursue this option to seek certification,” he stated.

The strikes by CVS and Walgreens come greater than a yr after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration finalized a rule change that broadened availability of abortion tablets to many extra pharmacies, together with giant chains and mail-order corporations.

The FDA in 2000 authorised mifepristone to terminate pregnancies of up to 10 weeks, when used with a second drug, misoprostol.

Mifepristone is taken first to dilate the cervix and block the hormone progesterone, which is required to maintain a being pregnant. Misoprostol is taken 24 to 48 hours later, inflicting the uterus to contract and expel being pregnant tissue.

For greater than 20 years, the FDA labeling had restricted dispensing to a subset of specialty places of work and clinics, due to security issues.

The U.S. Supreme Court is weighing a problem from conservative teams who’re searching for to reverse mifepristone’s approval or roll again insurance policies which have made it simpler to get hold of.

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely accountable for all content material.

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