The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), for the first time, has allowed certified retail pharmacies to dispense abortion medication, mifepristone, to those who have a prescription from a certified provider.
The regulatory change implies your local drug stores and major retail chains that have pharmacies, like Walgreens, can provide the drug, provided they follow certain rules. The move will increase access to abortion medication throughout the country.
Mifepristone is the first pill used in the two-drug medical abortion, and such terminations contribute to more than half of the abortions in the country.
FDA’s decision is likely to spark political and legal battles in several states that don’t allow abortion after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.