--- title: "CVS and Walgreens to Begin Selling Abortion Pills" description: "The two biggest pharmacy chains in the US plan to start selling the abortion pill mifepristone within the next week." date: "2024-03-02" modified: "2024-03-02" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/neoscope/cvs-walgreens-abortion-pill" categories: - "Developments" - "Health & Medicine" tags: - "abortion" - "cvs" - "pharmacies" - "walgreens" --- # CVS and Walgreens to Begin Selling Abortion Pills ![The two biggest pharmacy chains in the US plan to start selling the abortion pill mifepristone within the next week.]() *\Image: Patrick T. Fallon / AFP via Getty / Futurism\* As [anti-abortion activists]() continue to roll back access to the [lifesaving procedure](), the two biggest pharmacy chains in the United States plan to start selling the abortion pill mifepristone. Both CVS and Walgreens [confirmed to the *New York Times*]() that they've been certified under new Food and Drug Administration guidelines, issued last year, to begin dispensing the medication. Within the next week, CVS and Walgreens locations in the states of California, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, and Pennsylvania will begin selling mifepristone with a prescription. Within the next few months, as representatives for both chains told the *NYT*, they will begin rolling it out in the other states where abortion is legal and where pharmacies can fill mifepristone prescriptions, which accounts for about half the total states in the country. This move comes more than a year after the [FDA approved]() mifepristone to be sold at pharmacies with prescriptions, but only did so with certification based on a stringent set of rules. Still, pharmacies had to apply for certification from the agency, and until this announcement from CVS and Walgreens, [only a handful]() of independent retailers had been granted certification to do so. While this is a huge step in expanding abortion access, the fact remains that in the states where people can get mifepristone, there are far fewer barriers to getting the procedure than in the [other half of the country]() where it has either partially or entirely been banned since the fall of Roe v. Wade in June 2022. However, neither CVS nor Walgreens will be shipping the medication, which for people living in the parts of the country where abortion is all but impossible to access is a [critical lifeline](). In a statement responding to the news, President Joe Biden called the move an "[important milestone]()" and said that he would "continue to fight to ensure that women can get the health care they need... and to restore the protections of Roe v. Wade in federal law" — though he didn't expound on how he plans to do so while also campaigning for reelection. **More on reproductive care:** [*Trans Women Produce Excellent Milk, Scientists Say*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()