CVS and Walgreens to Begin Offering Abortion Pills

CVS and Walgreens will start allotting the abortion tablet mifepristone this March, the businesses confirmed to TIME. 

The pharmacies acquired a certification to supply mifepristone—which is authorised by the U.S. Meals and Drug Administration to terminate a being pregnant via 10 weeks of gestation, and is commonly used with misoprostol—to clients with a prescription in compliance with federal and state legal guidelines. The information was first reported by the New York Occasions. 

Walgreens stated that it’ll begin to dispense mifepristone inside every week at choose places in New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, California, and Illinois. CVS will roll out the tablet in Massachusetts and Rhode Island “within the weeks forward,” CVS spokeswoman Amy Thibault informed TIME over e mail. 

“We’ve acquired certification to dispense mifepristone at CVS Pharmacy and plan to fill prescriptions for this remedy in states the place legally permissible,” Thibault wrote. “We’re working with producers and suppliers to safe the remedy and should not but allotting it in any of our pharmacies.”

CVS stated that they plan to “develop to extra states, “the place allowed by legislation, on a rolling foundation.”  Walgreens spokesperson Marty Maloney additionally confirmed to TIME over e mail the corporate’s plan to supply mifepristone in a “phased rollout” to make sure the “high quality, security, and privateness for our sufferers, suppliers, and staff members.”

The way forward for mifepristone lies within the Supreme Court docket, which is able to hear a case about restrictions on its use this spring. The Biden Administration is hoping the court docket overturns an appellate ruling that may restrict entry to the tablet by mail, amongst different disputes. CVS and Walgreens clients will be unable to obtain the tablet by mail, spokespeople from the 2 corporations confirmed to TIME.Since earlier than the Supreme Court docket overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, abortion drugs have been the commonest approach to finish a being pregnant.