Are CVS and Walgreens prepared to be at the center of the abortion debate?

CVS and Walgreens have both begun the certification process to sell abortion pills under a new Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulation that will allow the medication to be offered by retail pharmacies for the first time. Not unsurprisingly, the backlash has begun.

Anti-abortion advocates are organizing pickets outside CVS and Walgreens for early February in at least eight cities, promising the kinds of chants, signs and confrontations long used to deter visits to abortion clinics. A call-in campaign and national boycott of the chains are also planned.

“We want people to be uncomfortable going into a CVS that has a demonstration going on and to consider going to a different pharmacy,” Caroline Smith, a leader of the group Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising, told Politico. “We also want to put enough pressure on the companies to retract this decision and not get certified to sell abortion pills.”

Abortion rights advocacy groups quickly cheered the new regulations.

Patients will still need a prescription from a certified healthcare provider and both Walgreens and CVS plan to comply with federal and state laws. Currently, about half of U.S. states ban or restrict abortion.

Rite Aid is among the host of pharmacies reviewing the FDA action. Such certifications are not required for most drugs, and following guidelines are expected to be challenging to navigate across states. Lewis Grossman, a professor at the American University Washington College of Law, told CNN, “This particular pharmacy certification regime seems much more onerous than one would expect for a random drug with a similar safety profile.”

Risks also include backlash from staff. A nurse practitioner in Texas recently filed a federal lawsuit against CVS after she was fired for refusing to prescribe birth control, citing her “Christian faith.”

The bigger risk appears to be getting caught up in the national debate over abortion.

In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Greer Donley, associate professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law who specializes in abortion policy, said he believes there’s not much incentive to sell a drug “that’s unlikely to make that much money and that has the potential to really cause them a lot of problems.”

• Next frontier in the abortion wars: Your local CVS – Politico
• Walgreens, CVS plan to get certified to offer abortion pill – Los Angeles Times
• Some major pharmacies are planning to dispense abortion pills, but not in every state – CNN
• CVS and Walgreens Plan to Offer Abortion Pills Where Abortion Is Legal – The New York Times
• CVS sued by nurse who was fired after she refused to prescribe birth control because of her religious beliefs – CBS News
• Information about Mifepristone for Medical Termination of Pregnancy Through Ten Weeks Gestation – Food and Drug Administration
• Reversing abortion drug’s approval would harm public interest, U.S. FDA says – Reuters
• The FDA finalizes rule expanding the availability of abortion pills – NPR