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This week, US public health officials approved the sale of abortion drugs by prescription in pharmacies. After numerous states outlawed abortion last year, how does it specifically affect women in the United States?
Where were they sold previously? – Taking two distinct medications over the course of one or two days results in a medication-induced abortion, sometimes referred to as a medical abortion.
The first, known as mifepristone, prevents conception, while the second, known as misoprostol, causes bleeding to empty the uterus.
The most pressing problems relate to mifepristone, which has been approved and subject to strict regulation by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) since 2000.
The use of mifepristone through the tenth week of pregnancy has been authorised by the FDA.
It could only be offered face-to-face and in particular places, mainly abortion clinics, until just before the Covid epidemic.
However, in response to a lawsuit brought during the epidemic, the FDA decided to temporarily let the medicine to be distributed by mail, following a consultation — in person or remotely — with a physician.
The FDA then said that it was permanently removing the requirement for in-person delivery of mifepristone in December 2021.
The FDA requested that the two pharmaceutical firms that are its suppliers, Danco Laboratories, which markets it under the brand name Mifeprex, and generic producer GenBioPro, establish up a system for greater distribution. This is what was authorised this past week.
How does the new system function? –
Pharmacies who intend to offer mifepristone must complete and sign a form that will be returned to Danco and GenBioPro, ensuring that they can give patients their medications in no more than four days (if the drug is not stocked on site).
The pharmacy must additionally specify that the prescription is from a licenced doctor or other qualified healthcare provider (a doctor or, depending on the state, a nurse).
To become certified, carers must self-certify on a form that they have a connection to a hospital or clinic that can offer emergency care if necessary. Additionally, they are required to get their patients to sign a consent document.
More physicians may opt to become engaged now that they are no longer required to stock the medications.
The Expanding Medication Abortion Access Project’s Kirsten Moore told AFP that it is a “highly decentralised system.” The FDA “absolutely does not become engaged in the day-to-day operations.”
The numerous certificates, according to University of California, San Francisco researcher Antonia Biggs, are superfluous, but the FDA’s decision is “a big step” because it “brings prescription abortion pills closer to patients.”
– When will pharmacies begin to participate?
That’s not clear. According to Jenny Ma, senior counsel at the Center for Reproductive Rights, “I would assume that in the following weeks and months, we’ll be able to see some additional providers” participating in the programme, AFP said.
Walgreens and CVS, two of the largest pharmacy companies in the US, have declared their desire to take part in those states where they can.
What effects are there in states where abortion is permitted?
The new law adds a third method of getting the pills in areas where abortion is permitted, in addition to abortion clinics and the mail. Some women could be able to get an abortion sooner as a result, skipping the delivery of the drugs or the need to drive to a clinic that might be far away.
Ma remarked that it would be extremely beneficial for those who reside in remote areas, especially those “who might not be able to afford the travel fees.”
According to Biggs, it might also be beneficial for women who find receiving prescription medications via mail to be unpleasant or difficult, such as young children living with their parents, “those in violent situations,” or those who lack “secure housing.”
What about states where abortion is prohibited?
Ma emphasised that the most important benefit is that “it destigmatizes abortion care; it makes it more equivalent to any other comparable medicine.”
What about states where abortion is prohibited?
The US Supreme Court abolished the federal ban on abortion in a momentous decision this summer, allowing each state to enact its own abortion regulations.
Since then, abortion has been nearly wholly prohibited in about a dozen states.
The FDA decision has no impact on the law regarding abortion medicines in those states.
What it will do, according to Ma, is highlight the disparity (between states).
But today, women who want to visit a state where abortion is permitted can discover a drugstore that is considerably closer than an abortion facility, thereby shortening and simplifying their trip.
