Two major pharmacy chains will apply to sell abortion pills under a new FDA regulation that will allow retail pharmacies to sell abortion pills for the first time.
The first pill in the two-drug abortion regimen would be sold by the chains. Patients will still need a prescription from a certified health care provider, but the new federal action could allow any pharmacy that agrees to accept those prescriptions and abide by certain other criteria to distribute the pills in its stores and by mail order.
The pharmacy chains did not give any information about when they would be able to sell the pills in stores or via mail order. Half of the states have laws that ban or restrict abortion.
Amy Thibaut, a spokeswoman for the drugstore chain, said that they plan to seek certification to distribute the drug.
A spokesman for Walgreens said in a statement that they plan to become a certified pharmacy. We are working through the registration, necessary training of our pharmacists, as well as evaluating our pharmacy network in terms of where we normally distribute products that have extra F.D.A. requirements.
In the wake of the Supreme Court's decision to overturn the federal right to abortion, more and more women are turning to abortion pills. With conservative states banning or sharply restricting abortion, the pills have become central to political and legal battles, and the decision to sell them could make the big chains another focal point of the country's divisive abortion debate.
There are some administrative requirements that go beyond the process pharmacy use with most other medications, such as designating an employee to ensure compliance, when it comes to becoming certified to deliver Mifepristone.
In order to protect their privacy and safety, drugstores must keep confidential the names of the health providers who prescribe the drug.
An official with Danco Laboratories said that a chain like CVS would not be able to list a doctor's name in a companywide database if they wanted to fulfill that requirement.
It is authorized by the F.D.A. to be taken in the first 10 weeks of a pregnant woman's life, but many clinics and providers now offer it up to 12 or 13 weeks into the baby's life. Most states allow physicians to use medical discretion to prescribe a drug if there is evidence that it is safe and effective for that use. Studies show that medication abortion is safe and effective when it is done through 12 weeks' pregnant.
The second drug in the regimen, misoprostol, has never been as tightly restricted as Mifepristone. It is easy to get at a pharmacy. It takes 24 to 48 hours after the birth of a baby for the drug to kick in.
The drug is only approved for abortions. There may be pressure on the pharmacy to give it for the treatment of some miscarriages. Dozens of groups, including the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the American Medical Association, filed a citizen petition asking the F.D.A. to take action to make it easier for women to use the drug for fertility reasons.
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