CVS and Walgreens to begin selling abortion pills this month

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 1, 2024 / 15:00 pm

CVS and Walgreens, the two largest pharmacy chains in the country, announced on Friday that they will begin selling the abortion pill mifepristone this month.

Martin Maloney, a media representative for Walgreens, told CNA that the chain would begin distributing the pills within the next week in “select locations” in New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, California, and Illinois.

Walgreens has announced its decision to distribute the pills following the completion of the FDA certification process. The pills will not be delivered via mail, according to spokesperson Maloney.

CVS, meanwhile, said it will begin selling abortion pills in the next few weeks, the Associated Press reported.

Chemical abortions are committed via a two-pill regimen consisting of the drugs mifepristone and misoprostol. This type of abortion works by cutting off the nutrients necessary for an unborn child to develop and then expelling him or her from the womb. Chemical abortions are widely believed to be on the rise nationally and may account for over half of all U.S. abortions.

The Biden administration has significantly loosened restrictions on abortion drugs in recent years, allowing pills to be administered via mail and telemedicine without in-person doctor examinations.

The FDA’s broad approval of mifepristone is being called into question currently as oral arguments in the FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine case are set to be heard by the Supreme Court on March 26. The decision could restore key abortion pill restrictions that were in place before the Biden administration and could determine whether mifepristone can be prescribed by telemedicine or sent through the mail. 

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has voiced grave concerns regarding chemical abortion pills, citing “the destruction of innocent human lives and the loosening of vital safety standards for vulnerable women.”

The pro-life group Human Coalition in a Friday statement decried the pharmacy chains’ decision to begin selling abortion drugs.

“This is a massive scheme of abortion on demand where our neighborhood pharmacies have been turned into merchants of death,” said Chelsey Youman, National Director of Public Policy at Human Coalition. 

“The FDA has lost all credibility in abandoning its responsibility to protect life, and women and children are paying the cost with their lives,” she said. “We are imploring the Supreme Court to intervene to stop the madness and at the very least require the FDA to reinstate basic safety protections of abortion pills.”