Pharmacies face lawsuits and protests if they dispense abortion pills

The largest pharmaceutical chains in the US are facing backlash over their decision to distribute a critical abortion medication in certain states. Anti-abortion groups and over two dozen Republican state officials are threatening legal action and organizing protests outside physical locations of CVS and Walgreens as both companies intend to seek approval to dispense mifepristone, a drug used with misoprostol to induce abortion.

Students for Life of America and faith-based 40 Days for Life have been organizing protests outside Walgreens and CVS stores over recent weeks. Additionally, more than two dozen Republican attorneys general have voiced concerns calling the pharmacies to fear legal consequences if they dispense abortion medication through the mail in their states.

The country has about 15 states that have laws that limit access to abortion medication, such as requiring that patients visit a physician in-person, according to the Guttmacher Institute. The FDA recently permitted certified retail pharmacies to distribute abortion medication to women with a prescription from a qualified health provider. Before this, abortion medications could only be prescribed and distributed by clinics, medical offices, hospitals or certified health care providers.

“[Pharmacies] are taking affirmative steps to become an abortion business, which they have not been up to this point,” said Katie Glenn Daniel, state policy director for the anti-abortion organisation Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America. “We think they’re realizing that right now, as they find out how they’re going to have to change their businesses to obtain certification and how much liability they expose themselves to really unnecessarily by making these business changes.”

Pharmaceutical chains, including Rite Aid and CVS, have announced that they intend to seek certification to dispense abortion medication where it is legally permitted but have not specified in which states. Walgreens has announced that it has no intention of seeking certification, and will not be distributing Mifepristone in certain states, such as Alaska, Iowa, Kansas, and Montana, where the medication and abortions remain legal but are facing intense political pressure.

A federal lawsuit in Texas aims to revoke the FDA’s approval of Mifepristone, the results of which could impact access to the medication throughout the US.

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