CVS and Walgreens plan for the first time to start selling the abortion pill mifepristone just ahead of the start of a Supreme Court case that could have far-reaching implications about its availability.
The two pharmacy chains have been certified to sell the pill, known as mifepristone and sold under the brand name Mifeprex, under new guidelines from the Food and Drug Administration. Their decision could open up access to a pill whose future has been the focus of a legal battle that’s worked its way up to the nation’s top court.
Walgreens will begin dispensing the pills this week at a few select pharmacies in California, New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Illinois. CVS will follow in the weeks ahead at all locations in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. It’ll expand to additional states, “where allowed by law, on a rolling basis,” a spokesperson wrote in an email.
The companies won’t dispense the drug in states where abortion isn’t legal. Several states have enacted abortion bans since Roe v. Wade was overturned last year.
On Friday, President Biden praised the companies’ decision, calling it an “important milestone in ensuring access to mifepristone.” Biden called on other pharmacies to follow suit.
Mifepristone is one of two drugs used in medication abortions and has been approved since 2000. The regimen is used in about half of all abortions in the U.S., and testing, as well as decades of use, have shown it to be safe and effective for terminating pregnancies. The drug has historically been obtained through prescriptions by a doctor or clinic, though in 2016 the FDA expanded access by allowing online prescriptions and mail orders.
Since last year, though, the drug’s availability has been threatened. A challenge from the conservative group Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine has worked its way through the legal system, eventually leading to an appeals court decision last August restricting access. The Biden Administration, as well as mifepristone manufacturer Danco Laboratories, appealed to the Supreme Court, which took up the case in December and is scheduled to hear arguments later this month.
If the Supreme Court were to uphold the lower court’s ruling, the drug would only be available through in-person visits with a clinic or a doctor.
