Walgreens and CVS are working to get certified to sell abortion pills, shortly after the Federal Drug Administration announced that it would allow retail pharmacies to dispense the drug to women, drastically widening access to abortion in the United States.
Previously, the pills could only be obtained through hospitals, doctor’s offices, or other medical settings. Regulations were loosened in Dec. 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, allowing women to obtain an abortion drug through the mail.
FDA TO ALLOW RETAIL PHARMACIES TO OFFER ABORTION PILLS
Walgreens and CVS had hinted that they were looking into possibly dispensing the pills, but confirmed as much on Wednesday.
“We intend to become a certified pharmacy under the program. We are working through the registration, necessary training of our pharmacists, as well as evaluating our pharmacy network in terms of where we normally dispense products that have extra FDA requirements and will dispense these consistent with federal and state laws,” Walmart’s Senior Director of External Relations, Fraser Engerman, told the Washington Examiner.
CVS echoed the sentiment in a statement to Axios, saying the company plans, “to seek certification to dispense mifepristone where legally permissible.”
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The move was praised by pro-abortion rights groups while being decried by anti-abortion groups.
“The Biden administration has once again proved that it values abortion industry profits over women’s safety and unborn children’s lives,” the group SBA Pro-Life America said in a statement to Bloomberg.
