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CVS and Walgreens Will Begin Selling Abortion Pills This Month

The New York Times, March 1, 2024

The two largest pharmacy chains in the United States will start dispensing the abortion pill mifepristone this month, a step that could make access easier for some patients. Officials at CVS and Walgreens said in interviews on Friday that they had received certification to dispense mifepristone under guidelines that the Food and Drug Administration issued last year. The chains plan to make the medication available in stores in a handful of states at first. They will not be providing the medication by mail. Both chains said they would gradually expand to all other states where abortion was legal and where pharmacies were legally able to dispense abortion pills – about half of the states. President Biden said in a statement on Friday that the availability of the pill at pharmacies was “an important milestone in ensuring access to mifepristone, a drug that has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration as safe and effective for more than 20 years.” “I encourage all pharmacies that want to pursue this option to seek certification,” he added. Walgreens will start providing the pill within the next week in a small number of its pharmacies in New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, California and Illinois, said Fraser Engerman, a spokesman 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,” he said. CVS will begin dispensing in all of its pharmacies in Massachusetts and Rhode Island “in the weeks ahead,” Amy Thibault, a spokeswoman for the company, said.

Democrats Plan to Put Abortion Front and Center at Biden’s State of the Union

The Huffington Post, March 7, 2024

Democrats plan to put reproductive freedom front and center at President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address Thursday night. Over 30 Democrats, as well as First Lady Dr. Jill Biden, are bringing guests who are involved in the reproductive rights movement in some way. The guests range from people impacted by abortion bans to OB-GYNs and abortion providers, as well as pro-choice advocates working at national nonprofits. Several Democrats also invited patients and providers in the fertility care space to spotlight in vitro fertilization after the Alabama Supreme Court ruling which granted embryos the same legal status as children. Members of the House Democratic Women’s Caucus announced they will be wearing white to Thursday’s address, as well as pins that read “Fighting for Reproductive Freedom.” The president, a practicing Catholic, has made it clear that he’s “not big on abortion” ― leaving many abortion rights supporters frustrated that the administration isn’t doing enough since the Supreme Court repealed Roe v. Wade. Biden has made restoring Roe a central part of his reelection campaign, but the way he discusses abortion often leaves pro-choice advocates wanting more. In a recent interview with The New Yorker, Biden said he’s “never been supportive of, you know, ‘It’s my body, I can do what I want with it.’”Most other Democrats are not as hesitant to showcase the issue on Thursday. “It really is a chance to bring the voices of all the women, of all the doctors, of all the families that have been affected by this loss of personal freedom, by this loss of access to health care, to the corridors of Congress,” House Whip Katherine Clark (Mass.), who has openly discussed her own miscarriage story, told HuffPost.

First Over-the-Counter Birth Control Pill in US Ships to Retailers, Costing About $20 for One-Month Pack

CNN, March 4, 2024

Opill, the first oral contraceptive approved for over-the-counter use in the United States, will be available in stores and online this month, with a manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $19.99 for a one-month supply and $49.99 for a three-month supply, according to Perrigo, the company behind the product. Perrigo will announce Monday that Opill has shipped to major retailers and pharmacies and will be available to pre-order from select retailers beginning this week. Once the product hits shelves, anyone can buy it without a prescription. It will also be available at Opill.com. “From an online perspective, it should be available for order pretty much immediately,” said Triona Schmelter, executive vice president and president of consumer self-care Americas at Perrigo. As for the availability, “I expect it’s going to take a few weeks for it to get through the distribution pipeline, of us shipping to retailers’ distribution facilities and then them shipping to their stores,” she said. But once the product is on shelves, “consumers will find it in the family planning section in most retailers and should be able to pick it up at their convenience.” Opill will be available in stores and online as one-month and three-month packs, according to Perrigo. And at Opill.com, a six-month supply will be available at a price of $89.99. When taken as directed at the same time every day, Opill has been found to be 98% effective at preventing pregnancy, according to Perrigo. Most birth control pills are up to 99% effective at preventing pregnancy if taken as instructed every day.

Alabama Governor Signs Bill to Protect IVF Treatments into Law

NBC News, March 6, 2024

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed a GOP-proposed bill to protect in vitro fertilization into law Wednesday night after weeks of backlash prompted by a controversial state Supreme Court ruling that embryos are considered children. Ivey, a Republican, signed the measure just moments after lawmakers passed it and sent it to her desk.”IVF is a complex issue, no doubt, and I anticipate there will be more work to come, but right now, I am confident that this legislation will provide the assurances our IVF clinics need and will lead them to resume services immediately,” she said in a statement. The swift action by the Republican-dominated Legislature capped a tumultuous weekslong sprint by lawmakers in the ruby red state sparked by the state Supreme Court’s controversial ruling. While the legislation enacted late Wednesday fails to answer the core question prompted by the court’s decision – whether an embryo created by IVF should be treated as a child under Alabama law – the measure’s Republican supporters were hopeful it would serve as a short-term solution that would allow clinics in the state that had halted their services to reopen. The immediate responses from such clinics were mixed: Two said they would resume services quickly, but one of those expressed significant caution. The enacted legislation doesn’t define or clarify whether under state law frozen embryos created via IVF have the same rights as children. Rather, the narrowly tailored bill is designed to protect doctors, clinics and other health care personnel who provide IVF treatment and services by offering such workers civil and criminal “immunity.”

Why Hospitals in Many States with Legal Abortion May Refuse to Perform Them

The Washington Post, March 5, 2024

Many states that tout themselves as protectors of reproductive health care, including California, Michigan and Pennsylvania, have little-noticed laws on the books protecting hospitals that refuse to provide it. The laws shield at least some hospitals from liability for not providing care they object to on religious grounds, leaving little recourse for patients. The providers – many of them Catholic hospitals – generally refuse to perform abortions and sterilizations because the services run contrary to their religious beliefs, but their objections can extend to other kinds of care. In our recent reporting on Catholic hospitals, we found that 35 states grant such legal protections to at least some hospitals that won’t provide abortions. About half of those laws don’t include exceptions for emergencies, ectopic pregnancies or miscarriages. Abortion remains broadly legal in 25 of those states. Sixteen states prohibit lawsuits against hospitals for refusing to perform sterilization procedures. These laws, many first enacted in the 1960s and 1970s, have flown under the radar following the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision overturning Roe v. Wade. But they carry significant consequences for patients. “It’s one thing to say that a health-care provider can refrain from providing certain care because of their sincerely held religious beliefs. It’s another thing altogether to say because you have these beliefs you can harm people and face no repercussions for it,” said Elizabeth Sepper, a law professor at the University of Texas at Austin and an expert on religious liberty and health law.

ICYMI: In Case You Missed It

Our new map with @paidleaveforall shows that in all of the states that have taken extreme measures to ban abortion, none of those states offer paid family leave. This is the State of the Union for women in America. #SOTU https://t.co/DTkK72BQon pic.twitter.com/BgICdTq8br

— National Partnership (@NPWF) March 5, 2024

 

 

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Note: The information contained in this publication reflects media coverage of women’s health issues and does not necessarily reflect the views of the National Partnership for Women & Families.