Conservative-run states across the country are attempting to warn or ban pharmacies from dispensing abortion pills as the method becomes more accessible by the federal government. Just a few days ago the federal government announced that pharmacies will be permitted to dispense abortion pills including mifepristone and misoprostol under a rule change from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Of course as this announcement was made, states like Alabama and Florida quickly reacted.
While Alabama is claiming that those who take these pills for abortions can be prosecuted, the state of Florida is attempting to make it against the law for pharmacies to dispense the pills despite federal law.
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According to NBC News, Fort Myers Pharmacist Ralph Webb has been dispensing medications for 55 years, including mifepristone for about 22 years, but now may not be able to.
“Now, with the new federal law, it’s supposed to be available to anybody who needs to have it,” Web noted. The medicine has been used for miscarriages and even ulcers in the past.
But while the federal law says it should be available to all who need it, the state Agency for Health Care Administration sent a letter to pharmacists warning dispensing the drug could result in criminal charges.
According to CBS News, it cites Florida statutes that read, "no termination shall be performed at any time except by a licensed physician," and "it is unlawful for any person to perform or assist in performing an abortion on a person, except in an emergency care situation, other than in a validly licensed hospital or abortion clinic or in a physician's office."
The letter follows an announcement from Gov. Ron DeSantis in regard to the federal rule that CVS and Walgreens may begin dispensing the pills.
"In terms of CVS, Walgreens, I don't know about Publix, but they are not going to be offering that in the state of Florida," DeSantis said.
Advocates for abortion rights argued that while conservatives like DeSantis claim the pills will encourage abortions, the real target is accessibility.
“It does feel like it’s tinged with some direct deliberate cruelty to make it difficult to access,” said Stephanie Fraim, Planned Parenthood CEO, according to NBC News. She noted that in Florida, one could only take the medication at their doctor’s office, including Planned Parenthood.
According to CBS News, in addition to getting the pill or procedure done by a doctor, a patient in Florida also has to wait 24 hours after counseling. But that’s not all: The pill can only be given by a doctor in the first 10 weeks of pregnancy.
“She actually has to take this medication in front of the physician so that the abortion takes place at the health center,” Fraim explained.
This makes accessing the drug even more difficult, especially for those who do not have the ability to go to a doctor’s office easily.
In order to appeal to those who don’t read up on facts, right-wing media is creating fake narratives, including a meter claiming the number of abortions that have happened since their broadcast began.
No, they aren’t sourcing where the numbers came from in order to verify them, but does that really matter to anti-abortionists? For all we know, someone could be punching random numbers for fun.
These and other tactics have been used extensively since the fall of Roe v. Wade.
Not to mention since the federal government’s announcement permitting pharmacies to dispense abortion pills, anti-abortion advocates have organized demonstrations outside of CVS and Walgreens to take place in February, Politico reported.
Their goal is to make people uncomfortable entering drugstores to seek the care they need.
According to the Guttmacher Institute, Florida is among 18 states where pharmacists are barred from dispensing mifepristone either due to the right to abortion being repealed or a requirement that patients get pills directly from a physician.