Florida pharmacists warned that dispensing abortion pills is illegal

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• Florida healthcare providers were warned that pharmacists cannot dispense abortion pills despite a new FDA ruling.
• The FDA has recently allowed retail pharmacies to dispense abortion pills in states where it’s legal.
• In the state, the abortion process can only be personally done by a physician at a licensed facility.

Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) warned pharmacies that it is illegal for them to dispense abortion pills in the state.

The Florida agency sent the healthcare providers a letter via email on Thursday, after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently allowed retail pharmacies to stock and dispense abortion pills in states where the procedure is legal.

The warning letter read, “The Agency issues this alert to remind providers that they must continue to comply with Florida laws that govern the performance of abortions.”

Following the FDA’s announcement, pharmacy chains such as CVS and Walgreens confirmed that they plan to apply for the necessary certification to dispense the abortion pill mifepristone in states where it is allowed.

Depending on state laws, pregnant women could receive the pills through prescriptions directly from their doctor or via telemedicine, which are then sent by mail. This process didn’t include getting the pills via pharmacies before.

Mifepristone has recently become the most common method of abortion in the country. The two-pill regimen is used to terminate an intrauterine pregnancy until 10 weeks of gestation. It’s different from “the morning after pill,” an emergency contraceptive that is widely available at Florida pharmacies.

Abortion is legal in Florida until 15 weeks of pregnancy. But only a physician, not a pharmacist, can terminate a pregnancy. Such a process can only be done after a 24-hour waiting period.

AHCA’s letter cited a Florida law stating: “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.”

Pharmacies are not allowed to dispense abortion pills in 18 states, including Florida, either because abortion is illegal in the state or because only a physician can dispense such pills.

On Thursday, Gov. Ron DeSantis declared that mifepristone will not be offered in the state’s pharmacies, including CVS and Walgreens.

Laura Goodhue, vice president of public affairs at Planned Parenthood of South, East, and North Florida, explained that mifepristone can only be personally obtained from a physician “at a licensed facility.”

AHCA warned pharmacies that a willful violation of the state’s abortion laws could be used as “evidence of criminal activity” and referred to local law enforcement.

Source: Yahoo! Finance