National Right to Life Asks Pro-Life Americans to Contact Major Pharmacies

WASHINGTON, D.C.— On Tuesday, January 3rd, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) updated labeling for mifepristone (generic for Mifeprex) that would allow pharmacies to dispense the drug.

Unfortunately, both CVS and Walgreens have stated that they will sell the drug in select pharmacies which would place women at greater risk than ever before.

“Mifepristone takes the life of an unborn baby and places her mother at risk of death,” said Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life. “In no way can that be considered health care.”

Tobias continued, “We ask pro-life Americans from across the United States to contact Walgreens and CVS. Let them know that dispensing death is bad business.”

Mifepristone is used in combination with misoprostol, a prostaglandin, to cause an abortion. Mifepristone blocks progesterone, causing the death of the unborn baby, while the second drug, misoprostol, causes powerful, painful uterine contractions to expel the dead or dying baby.

“More than two dozen deaths and thousands of complications are associated with the use of these drugs,” said Randall K. O’Bannon, Ph.D., director of education and research for National Right to Life. “These ‘adverse events,’ on record with the FDA, include serious infections, severe hemorrhaging, and the rupture of previously undiscovered ectopic pregnancies.”

The FDA’s revised Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) for Mifeprex would require that the drug only be dispensed by pharmacies that have completed certification and only those pharmacies, once certified, could dispense the drug prescribed by certified prescribers who have pledged to follow FDA guidelines regarding the screening and counseling of patients to ensure they know the risks and dangers.

“Retail pharmacies like Walgreens and CVS should consider whether it is a sound business risk to be selling dangerous abortion pills that can put women in the hospital,” said Scott Fischbach, National Right to Life’s executive director. “Their customers will not be happy to find out that their local drugstore where they get their life-saving medicines is now stocking and distributing pills for the purpose of killing unborn children in their community.”

Contact information for CVS and Walgreens can be found here.

Founded in 1968, the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), the federation of affiliates in each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia and more than 3,000 local chapters, is the nation’s oldest and largest grassroots pro-life organization. Recognized as the flagship of the pro-life movement, National Right to Life works through legislation and education to protect innocent human life from abortion, infanticide, assisted suicide and euthanasia.