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CVS is seeking verification on drugs with possible abortion use

AP
A CVS spokesman says state laws that restrict the dispensing of medications used for abortions have forced the company to start the validations. He noted that some of the laws come with criminal penalties.

The policy started the first week in July in Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Oklahoma, and Texas. CVS is asking care providers to help by including a diagnosis on the prescription.

CVS Health is asking pharmacists in some states to verify that a few of the prescriptions they provide will not be used end a pregnancy.

A spokesman said Thursday that the drugstore chain recently started doing this for methotrexate and misoprostol, two drugs used in medication abortions but also to treat other conditions.

Spokesman Mike DeAngelis said the policy started the first week in July in Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Oklahoma, and Texas. He says CVS is asking care providers to help by including their diagnosis on the prescriptions.

CVS pharmacies will still fill prescriptions for miscarriages or ectopic pregnancies, which grow outside the womb and are not viable.

The request from the drugstore chain based in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, comes after the U.S. Supreme Court last month overturned Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that had provided a constitutional right to abortion.