CVS, Walgreens start offering abortion pills this month

STORY: CVS and Walgreens, the two largest U.S. pharmacy chains, will start selling abortion pill mifepristone at stores in several states this month.This comes as Republicans have issued restrictive abortion laws in nearly two dozen states since the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022, which ended recognition of a constitutional right to abortion.Walgreens expects to dispense the pills by next week, in select locations in New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, California, and Illinois. While CVS will file prescriptions for the medication in Massachusetts and Rhode Island in the weeks ahead and expand to additional states on a rolling basis, and where it’s allowed by law.Mifepristone was approved by the FDA in 2000.It is one of two drugs used in medication abortion, which accounts for more than half of U.S. abortions.Biden has made access to abortion a key election campaign issue.He called the decision by CVS and Walgreens a milestone, and in a statement said the stakes could not be higher for women across America, citing “relentless attacks on reproductive freedom by Republican elected officials.”The announcement Friday comes as anti-abortion groups and doctors in Texas bring a legal challenge to the bill to the U.S. Supreme Court this month.They say the FDA had not adequately considered the risks of the drug when it first approved it, or when it later eased restrictions on its distribution.The Supreme Court’s eventual ruling in the case is expected by the end of June – in the middle of the presidential race.