Frederick Douglas Waako

Walgreens and CVS, the two largest pharmacy chains in the U.S, will start selling Mifepristone an abortion pill as soon as this month, the companies said in a statement.

According to the The Wall Street Journal, the two pharmacy chains are to dispense the pills, following a regulatory shift last year by the US Food and Drug Administration to allow bricks and mortar pharmacies to offer the pill with a prescription.

‘Mifepristone is an oral drug that blocks a hormone called progesterone which the body needs to continue a pregnancy. Mifepristone, when used together with another medicine called Misoprostol, is used to end a pregnancy through ten weeks gestation’ says the Food and Drug Administration agency.

The pill has been legal in the US since 2000 but was previously only accessible through clinics and hospitals according to the BBC.

According to the CBS, abortion pills are already available in clinics and in some states, can be prescribed through telemedicine and mailed to a patient. With the pill being available through a retail pharmacy, it will give doctors the option to send a prescription to a CVS or Walgreens, where the patient can pick it up from a pharmacist.

Fraser Engerman the Walgreens spokesperson says, the pill is to be provided in a handful of pharmacies in New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, California and Illinois which is part of a “Phased rollout” to monitor quality, safety and privacy for both patients and pharmacy staff.

Mr Engerman said Walgreens will not “dispense in states where the laws are unclear”, in order to protect staff.

Amy Thibault CVS spokeswoman said its stores in Massachusets and Rhode Island would begin filling prescriptions for mifepristone by the end of March. In states where it is allowed, all CVS pharmacies are expected to offer it within the next 45 days or so, she said

The pharmacies’ moves, which come at a time when abortion access has been restricted across parts of the U.S., drew praise from President Joe Biden.

“The stakes could not be higher for women across America,” Biden said in a statement Friday. “I encourage all pharmacies that want to pursue this option to seek certification,” he added.

“Its absolutely a game-changer,” Rabia Muqaddam, senior staff attorney for the Center for Reproductive Rights, told CBS News. “This type of dispensing is going to be huge for patients who struggle to travel. We’re going to see much better health outcome.”

However, according to the BBC, widespread access to the pill has been opposed by anti-abortion groups, who have sued the FDA in a bid to remove Mifepristone off the market in the US. The case will be heard by the Supreme Court later this month, after a federal appeals court ruled that the pill should remain legal, but should not be sent through the mail or prescribed through telemedicine.

If the US top court upholds that ruling, it would mean that patients would have to obtain the pill by visiting a clinic, doctor or pharmacy in person.

“I think it’s a really sad in America for the women of this country,” Carol Tobias, president of the National Right to Life Committee, said. “I would encourage women to seek out a local pregnancy center and talk to them before taking this pill”.

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