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Pharmacies in Massachusetts are required to stock all family planning medications, the Healey administration said Wednesday in guidance clarifying state regulations.
The move comes after 20 attorneys general nationwide called on pharmacies in their states to stop providing the FDA-approved abortion medication mifepristone. Walgreens said this month it won't sell the pills by mail in those states.
The guidance issued by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Bureau of Health Professions Licensure and Board of Registration in Pharmacy noted concerns about access to medications for reproductive health at pharmacies nationwide.
The rule being clarified requires pharmacies and pharmacy departments to keep medications on hand to meet "the usual needs of the community," and the guidance specifies that family planning medications like mifepristone and emergency contraception are included in that regulation.
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In the guidance, the agencies said they "want to be clear that all family planning medications, including mifepristone (Mifeprex®), misoprostol (Cytotec®), emergency contraception, and contraceptive prescriptions are considered necessary to meet the usual needs of each and every community across the Commonwealth."
Read the documents here, including a statement from Public Health Commissioner Margret Cooke.
The Supreme Court's decision last year in the case Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization to overturn the national right to an abortion established in the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling has reignited the debate around reproductive health and sparked policy debates around the country. A federal court in Texas last week heard arguments in a lawsuit on whether to overturn the federal approval of mifepristone.
Since the Dobbs ruling, officials in Massachusetts have announced their committment to supporting access to reproductive health care, which Gov. Maura Healey and other Massachusetts officials reiterated Wednesday.
"At a time when states are rushing to ban medication abortion and some pharmacies are irresponsibly restricting access to it, we are reminding Massachusetts pharmacies that they have an obligation to provide critical reproductive health medications, including Mifepristone," Healey said in a statement. "It’s safe, effective, and legal."
