Pharmaceuticals

Cvs and Walgreens will distribute the abortion pill in the US

Drug abortion accounts for 53% of US abortions, and now the spread in the two chains will make the drug more accessible.

by Mo.D.

1 March 2024

3' min read

Key points

The right to abortion in the United States
The Mifepristone Attack

3' min read

Cvs and Walgreens, which control the two largest pharmacy chains in the US, will begin selling the abortion pill Mifepristone this month. The two groups said they had received certification to dispense the drug according to guidelines issued last year by the Food and Drug Administration.

The sale will begin gradually and will be available in shops in a handful of states at first, while it will not be possible to order it by mail order. Both chains then intend to expand the sale gradually to all other states where abortion is legal (half of the US states) and where pharmacies are legally able to dispense abortion pills.

Walgreens will begin supplying the pill within the next week to a small number of its pharmacies in New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, California, and Illinois, said Fraser Engerman, a spokesperson for the chain: "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.

The numbers of those who have resorted to the drug are far from negligible: more than five million women in the United States. According to data from the Guttmacher Institute, a political and research organisation focused on sexual and reproductive health that advocates abortion rights, drug abortion accounts for 53% of all abortions in the United States. The sale now in chain pharmacies should make the drug more accessible, in a situation where half the states in the US do not allow abortions.

On Wall Street, Walgreen's shares are on the rise after the announcement, while those of Cvs move more slowly and negatively.

The right to abortion in the United States

The right to abortion in the United States is not enshrined in the Constitution, but was enshrined in a historic Supreme Court ruling 50 years ago (Roe vs Wade in 1973). In June the US Supreme Court itself overturned the historic ruling: all 6 Republican-appointed judges, out of the 9 total judges, voted for the abolition of the federal right, while the 3 Democratic judges voted against.

The attack on Mifepristone

The attack on abortion rights did not stop there. Then last year, a group of doctors and anti-abortion organisations filed a lawsuit against the Food and drug administration seeking to invalidate the approval of Mifepristone more than two decades ago and withdraw the pill from the market. The plaintiffs claim that Mifepristone is unsafe and that the agency's approval process for the drug was flawed. The F.D.A. has vigorously countered these claims, arguing that the drug is safe and effective, even bringing to bear a number of studies showing that serious complications are rare. A Texas judge last year, however, ruled in favour of the drug's opponents, but then three judges of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans ruled to keep the Mifepristone abortion pill available in the United States, but with stricter rules that include reducing from 10 to 7 weeks the time from conception within which it can be used and ending the possibility of receiving it by mail without the need to go to a doctor's office.

And it is precisely on the issue of abortion rights that President Biden's election campaign for the upcoming presidential elections in November is being played out.

Monica D’Ascenzoredattrice
Luogo: Milano
Lingue parlate: Italiano, inglese
Argomenti: Finanza, startup, diversity
Premi: Premio dell'Associazione per lo Sviluppo economico per il libro "Donne sull'orlo della crisi economica"
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