A Washington state-based nonprofit has launched a program to train pharmacists to prescribe abortion pills through telemedicine. The program is a model that organizers hope other states will adopt to expand access to abortion.
In Washington state, abortion is widely legal up to the point where the fetus is viable, generally considered to be between 24 and 26 weeks of pregnancy. But Dr. Beth Libin, president and CEO of the nonprofit Uplift International, says people face barriers to accessing abortion in Washington, depending on where they live, their income, and other factors. He said there are still many people who are Libin said these people can benefit most from the availability of telemedicine, and pharmacist availability can increase its availability.
The nonprofit partnered with an online pharmacy called Honeybee Health to launch something called the Pharmacist Abortion Access Project. Ten pharmacists were hired and trained to prescribe mifepristone and misoprostol, standard medical abortion prescriptions approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, to Washington patients up to 10 weeks pregnant.
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Libin said the team worked with Dr. Sarah Prager, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Washington, to develop the training protocol. The program also includes a list of clinics to which patients can be referred if they need in-person follow-up care, such as ultrasounds, blood tests, and other tests.
“If[patients]have questions, they can use the platform to message the pharmacist and the individual, and the patient will be followed up one week and four to five weeks after writing the prescription. ,” Libin said.
Over the past two years, anti-abortion groups have increasingly called for state legislation targeting abortion pills, arguing that telemedicine treatments pose a risk to pregnant women’s health. Studies have repeatedly shown that telemedicine prescriptions are just as safe as in-person treatment. recent research It showed that 99.7% of patients out of a sample of 6,000 people did not experience any serious complications. Similarly, 97.7% did not require additional follow-up care.
“Studies confirm that medical abortions can be prescribed as safely in telemedicine as in-person, and confirm that pharmacists can specifically prescribe medical abortions,” Libin told State Newsroom. spoke. “The training they receive (on the project) mirrors the training other providers receive.”
The Heritage Foundation, a conservative group promoting a set of policies known as Project 2025, We have collected some examples The act of administering abortion pills to a pregnant woman without her consent. The group uses these examples to recommend states ban telemedicine and mail order sales of abortion pills and strengthen or enact laws targeting forced abortions. There are also calls to use a dormant federal law known as the Comstock Act to completely ban the mailing of abortion pills.
Proof of residence is not required if you get the pills by mail
By the end of the Washington pilot program, which ran from October 31 to November 26, 2024, pharmacists had successfully prescribed medical abortions to 43 patients who were deemed eligible. To be eligible, patients had to be at least 18 years old and have a Washington address to which the medication could be mailed, apart from applicable medical protocols. Medication recipients do not need to prove they are a Washington resident, but must provide a valid Washington address. Washington state has a law that prevents residents of states where abortion is illegal from investigating medical providers if they receive an abortion in Washington.
Following the success of the pilot, Uplift International said it plans to expand the program across Washington and explore allowing pharmacists to prescribe medication abortions directly in brick-and-mortar pharmacies.
Libin said the project paves the way for other states to adopt the same model, especially as President-elect Donald Trump takes office and Republicans in Congress may look to tighten federal abortion regulations. He said he was looking forward to it.
“This is the first step toward making it mainstream for pharmacists to prescribe medication abortions directly,” Libin said.
Don Downing, professor emeritus of clinical pharmacy at the University of Washington and co-director of the project, said Washington state has one of the most progressive pharmacy laws in the country. State law has recognized pharmacists as health care providers since 1979, allowing them to prescribe many FDA-approved medications.
Washington state shares progressive pharmacy laws with one of its border states, Idaho, where pharmacists provide medicines for minor ailments such as cold sores and allergies, as well as medications for influenza and other illnesses. They can also prescribe medications to treat conditions such as strep throat. Downing said Idaho’s pharmacy laws are actually even more progressive than Washington state’s.
But Idaho’s abortion policy couldn’t be more different. The state is the only state in the northwest with a near-total ban on abortion, with a civil enforcement law that allows families to sue health care providers who perform abortions, and a so-called “abortion trafficking” law that Abduction of a person is a serious crime. A state where abortion can be legally performed without parental permission.
Ironically, Downing said, the pilot team announced the project in Idaho the same year it was held at a resort in Coeur d’Alene, bringing together pharmacists from Montana, Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Alaska. It was announced during the next pharmacy conference.
“At that meeting, we presented the idea that pharmacists would become more involved in access to medical abortion, because at the time, Idaho was just jumping on board with abortion access for women. It was surreal,” Downing said.
He said the first priority was to provide prescriptions via telemedicine. After conducting several hearing sessions before launching the pilot, the consensus among the women interviewed was that they preferred the privacy of their online experience.
“If you live in a small town, you go to the doctor’s office, you go to the school nurse, you go to the pharmacy. You’re more likely to meet a neighbor or relative, and someone is bound to go.” What to do there today to ask if they’re doing it,” Downing said. “Women across the country are increasingly finding that they wish they could buy online as well as they buy on Amazon, but even better, if they could do it without having to meet their aunt.”
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