{"id":229307,"date":"2020-08-23T11:02:47","date_gmt":"2020-08-23T16:02:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=229307"},"modified":"2022-04-21T07:03:30","modified_gmt":"2022-04-21T12:03:30","slug":"judge-online-pharmacy-dispensing-abortion-pill-covid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/judge-online-pharmacy-dispensing-abortion-pill-covid\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge allows online and pharmacy dispensing of abortion pill during COVID-19"},"content":{"rendered":"
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According to a modified court order, United States District Judge Theodore D. Chuang has removed yet another hurdle for the abortion industry’s goal of DIY at-home abortions. Now, abortion clients can obtain\u00a0the abortion pill<\/a> online and in pharmacies<\/em> without being seen in person by a health professional during the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n

In July 2020, Chuang ruled<\/a> to suspend in-person visit requirements for the abortion pill during the pandemic, which are required by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) safety protocols (REMS). The\u00a0lawsuit<\/a>, filed on behalf of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists<\/a>\u00a0against the FDA asserts that requiring mifepristone to be dispensed to abortion clients in person during the COVID-19 pandemic is an undue burden. The FDA has\u00a0defended<\/a> its safety requirements.<\/p>\n

READ:\u00a0FDA files appeal after judge suspends abortion pill safety rules during COVID-19<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Under FDA’s REMS, mifepristone (used in a regimen with misoprostol) must be dispensed by a certified prescriber at an approved hospital or clinic and cannot be sold online or in a pharmacy. However,\u00a0Chuang’s modification to the preliminary injunction<\/a>\u00a0as of August 19, 2020, now allows pharmacies to act as “an agent” of the certified abortion pill prescribers and to store abortion pills “on behalf of the healthcare provider.” While the order allows a pharmacy to stock and subsequently mail abortion pills for a certified prescriber, it limits them from “acting as a retail pharmacy” and stocking the abortion pills generally or distributing the abortion pill outside of certified prescribers. How a pharmacy will confirm the prescription requests are from Danco certified prescribers is not noted since Danco does not publish a list.<\/p>\n

The order reads in part:<\/p>\n

This requirement that dispensing by mail or delivery service remain \u201cby or under the supervision of a certified healthcare provider\u201d permits mifepristone to be sent from a drug sponsor to a certified healthcare provider in the care of a mail-order pharmacy if the pharmacy has a contractual agreement with the certified healthcare provider to receive mifepristone on behalf of the healthcare provider and then to mail the drug to a patient at the direction of that healthcare provider, so long as the drugs were\u00a0specifically ordered from the drug sponsor by the certified healthcare provider and held on the provider\u2019s behalf, and the mail-order pharmacy has no right to distribute those drugs except at the direction of the certified healthcare provider.<\/em><\/p>\n

“In this regard, the arrangement does not conflict with the Court\u2019s statements that certified healthcare providers must ‘still comply with all other REMS requirements’ and that the Court ‘is not barring the enforcement of other REMS requirements not dependent on an in-person patient visit,’ the document<\/a> obtained by Live Action News states.<\/p>\n