One of many nation’s largest pharmacies stated Friday it would not dispense abortion pills in some states, together with a number of where medicine abortion stays legal.
A group of 20 Republican attorneys general warned CVS and Walgreens in a letter final month that they may face legal penalties in the event that they sell abortion pills by mail in their states.
The letter, from Missouri Legal professional Normal Andrew Bailey, was cosigned by attorneys basic in Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and West Virginia.
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Walgreens responded to the letter by saying it is not going to dispense the abortion tablet mifepristone in these states, Jim Cohn, a spokesperson for the corporate, confirmed to USA TODAY on Friday.
The record of states in the letter embody some where abortion is legal each usually and concerning medicine abortion. These states embody Kansas, Alaska, Iowa and Montana, Deliberate Parenthood representatives confirmed to USA TODAY.
Cohn stated Walgreens is not at present allotting mifepristone and as a substitute intends to undergo the certification course of to have the ability to distribute the drug “in these jurisdictions where it is legal and operationally possible.”
Earlier this 12 months, the FDA ruled retail pharmacies may get licensed to dispense mifepristone and agree to simply accept prescriptions from licensed suppliers in the event that they meet requirements in delivery, monitoring and confidentially storing drug-prescribing data
Pharmacies, together with CVS and Walgreens, quickly responded by saying they intend to bear the certification course of to offer the drug in states where it is legal to take action.
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CVS has not responded to a number of USA TODAY requests for remark about their plans to dispense mifepristone in the 20 states included in the letter.
Melissa Fowler, chief program officer on the Nationwide Abortion Federation, the skilled affiliation of abortion suppliers, voiced considerations over pharmacies not offering mifepristone in states where the abortion pills are legal.
“When firms give in to anti-abortion calls for, sufferers are those who lose,” she stated in a press release. “Too many sufferers have already misplaced entry to important well being care attributable to state abortion bans and we should always not enable abortion opponents to proceed enjoying video games with folks’s lives and denying them the care they want—particularly in states where abortion stays legal. Each affected person deserves to acquire abortion care in the time and place that’s proper for them.”
In the meantime, abortion rights advocates are awaiting a decision by a federal judge in Texas that might decimate medicine abortion entry nationwide as anti-abortion teams goal the decades-long authorities approval of a key abortion drug. Treatment abortion is the commonest technique for ending a being pregnant in the U.S.
Contact Christine Fernando at [email protected] or comply with her on Twitter at @christinetfern.
This text initially appeared on USA TODAY: Walgreens says it won’t sell abortion pills in 20 GOP-led states
