The two largest U.S. drug chains will begin selling the abortion drug mifepristone this month, weeks before the Supreme Court hears arguments on the drug’s approval, which the Biden administration is defending. .
CVS and Walgreens have completed the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) certification process to dispense mifepristone, the companies separately confirmed to Fox News Digital. The pills will not be sent by mail, and both companies will follow FDA guidelines issued last year. The guidelines will be challenged in the High Court on March 26th.
Walgreens told Fox News Digital on Friday that it “expects to begin dispensing within a week” at select pharmacies in New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, California and Illinois.
CVS told Fox News Digital that it will begin accepting prescriptions for the pill in Massachusetts and Rhode Island “in the coming weeks” and will expand to more states “over time, as permitted by law.” He said he plans to do so.
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Bottles of the abortion pills mifepristone (left) and misoprostol (left). (AP Photo/Charlie Neighborgal)
The pro-life group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America (SBA) called the development “disgraceful” in a statement to FOX News Digital.
“As two of the world’s largest and most trusted health brands, CVS and Walgreens’ decision to sell dangerous abortion pills is shameful and the harm to unborn children and their mothers is immeasurable. No,” said SBA State Policy Director Katie Daniel..
”According to the FDA’s own labeling, even when used under the strongest safety precautions, abortion pills send about 1 in 25 women to the emergency room,” Daniel said. But under a Democratic president, the FDA has illegally rolled back basic safety standards – allowing private doctors to visit and even mail these deadly drugs.”
Within weeks, the Supreme Court ruled that “we routinely witness the aftermath of women and girls being brought to the ER with severe pain, heavy bleeding, infections, and other serious complications,” Daniel said. The court will hear a lawsuit filed by doctors.
President Biden on Friday called the announcement a “significant milestone.”
“With major retail pharmacy chains newly certified to dispense abortion pills, many women will soon have the option of picking up their prescriptions at their local certified pharmacy, just as they would for any other medication. “I encourage all pharmacies who want to pursue this,” Biden said in a statement to the media, “to have the option of seeking certification.”
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Walgreens said it “expects to begin dispensing within a week” at select pharmacies in New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, California and Illinois. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
in Roe v. Wade Ace Attorney In June 2022, the Supreme Court ruled in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Institution that the U.S. Constitution does not guarantee the right to abortion and that the issue should be decided by each state. As a result, 14 states have banned abortions at all stages of pregnancy, with some exceptions, and two others have banned abortions from the moment a fetal heartbeat is detected (approximately 6 weeks into pregnancy). was prohibited.
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The Biden administration and the makers of the drug mifepristone are asking the high court to reverse an appellate ruling that would have cut off access to the drug by mail and imposed other restrictions, even in states where abortion remains legal. There is. The restrictions include reducing the length of time mifepristone can be used during pregnancy from the current 10 weeks to seven weeks. The nine justices rejected another appeal from abortion opponents challenging the FDA’s initial approval of mifepristone as safe and effective in 2000.
Mifepristone, manufactured by New York-based Danko Laboratories, is one of two drugs used in medication abortions, which account for more than half of all abortions in the United States. More than 5 million people have used it since 2000, according to the Associated Press. The second is misoprostol, which some health care providers say is less effective at terminating pregnancies.
FOX News’ Daniel Wallace contributed to this report.
