CVS, Walgreens to Begin Selling Abortion Drugs Ahead of High-Stakes Supreme Court Case

CVS and Walgreens are set to begin selling abortion drugs “within a week,” ahead of a Supreme Court battle challenging the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) rollback of safety restrictions for mifepristone, the first drug used in a two-drug medication abortion regimen.

The move by top retail pharmacy chains comes more than a year after the FDA changed its regulations to allow them to dispense abortion pills in the wake of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision. CVS and Walgreens told CBS News they have become certified to dispense the pills following the FDA’s regulatory change.

Access to mifepristone will require a prescription and will only be offered in brick-and-mortar stores, according to the report.

“Walgreens has completed the FDA certification process to dispense mifepristone and expects to begin dispensing within a week, consistent with federal and state laws,” the company said in a Friday statement to CBS News. “We are beginning a phased rollout in select locations to allow us to ensure quality, safety, and privacy for our patients, providers, and team members.”

CVS told the outlet it will start dispensing abortion pills in Massachusetts and Rhode Island in the coming weeks.

“We’ve received certification to dispense mifepristone at CVS Pharmacy and plan to fill prescriptions for this medication in states where legally permissible,” CVS said. The pharmacy chain added it “will expand to additional states, where allowed by law, on a rolling basis.”

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Supreme Court Justices will hear oral arguments in the high-stakes case on March 26. In September, both President Joe Biden’s Department of Justice (DOJ) and Danco Laboratories LLC, which distributes mifepristone under the brand name Mifeprex, asked the Supreme Court to reverse a lower court decision halting two FDA actions that loosened restrictions on the abortion pill. The Supreme Court ultimately granted a hearing to both cases, consolidating them into one with a total of one hour allotted for oral argument.

Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America’s State Policy Director Katie Daniel said in a statement via email:

As two of the world’s largest, most trusted ‘health’ brands, the decision by CVS and Walgreens to sell dangerous abortion drugs is shameful, and the harm to unborn babies and their mothers incalculable. This reckless policy was made possible by the Biden administration, which is pushing to turn every pharmacy and post office in America into an abortion center for the sake of abortion industry greed.

“Just weeks from now, the Supreme Court is set to hear a landmark case brought by doctors who routinely witness the fallout for women and girls who turn up in ERs with severe pain, heavy bleeding, infections and other serious complications — not to mention the trauma some experience when they deliver their own aborted child alone in the bathroom,” Daniel added in part. “The truth about abortion drugs is being exposed and we hope the FDA will finally be held accountable for failing to protect Americans.”

40 Days for Life CEO Shawn Carney also released a statement via email, slamming the retail pharmacy chains for dispensing abortion pills “right next to candy bars and toilet paper, in states like New York, California, Pennsylvania and others.”

“This newfound approach by the federal government in a post-Roe America, treating abortion as a sacrament, represents a dangerous pivot away from all commonsense,” Carney said in part. “It neglects the genuine safety concerns associated with these medications, embracing a policy that could have, and has had, far-reaching implications for the vulnerable women being fed these dangerous pills.”

“Our stance remains clear: By sanctifying abortion access, the government disregards the grave risks to women and their unborn, prioritizing ideology over genuine care,” he continued.

Mifepristone blocks the action of progesterone, which the mother’s body produces to nourish the pregnancy. When progesterone is blocked, the lining of the mother’s uterus deteriorates, and blood and nourishment are cut off to the developing baby, who then dies inside the mother’s womb. The drug misoprostol (also called Cytotec) then causes contractions and bleeding to expel the baby from the mother’s uterus.

The pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute found that mifepristone is used for more than half of all abortions in the United States. In 2020, the drug accounted for 53 percent of all abortions, up from 39 percent in 2017.