'More access the better.' CVS, Walgreens to offer abortion pill. Cape Cod responds.

Editor's note: This story was updated March 26, 2024, to correct the name of an affiliate of Cape Cod Healthcare.

A decision by CVS and Walgreens to begin dispensing the medication abortion pill mifepristone at pharmacies in several states, including Massachusetts, is an important step to improved reproductive health care access on the Cape and Islands, advocates and health care providers say.

Mifepristone is part of the only alternative to surgical abortion, a service currently unavailable on the Cape. The closest location for a surgical abortion is Attleboro, which is a two-hour drive from Provincetown.

“We believe that comprehensive sexual and reproductive health care is just one piece of economic security for young women and girls,” said Julia Kehoe, president and chief executive officer of Health Imperatives, the only clinic that provides medication abortion services on Cape Cod.

Their services, Kehoe said, are now only available at seven clinics across southeastern Massachusetts — an area that used to be considered “an abortion desert.”

How is mifepristone is obtained

Clients currently obtain mifepristone at Health Imperatives' clinics, said Tara Goodwin, founder of Goodwin Consulting, of which Health Imperatives is a client.

Mifepristone is currently available as a part of a two-step medication abortion process with misoprostol, but on March 26, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments against the safety and availability of the drug in the country.

How many CVS and Walgreens are there on the Cape?

There are nine Walgreens and four CVS stores in Hyannis. There are no CVS or Walgreens stores in Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard, according to the store locator.

"We are now dispensing in select locations in New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, California, and Illinois," according to the Walgreens Mifepristone Resource Hub website. People seeking the medication need to provide a prescription for mifepristone by a certified medical provider to Walgreens.

CVS Pharmacy is dispensing the medicine with the option of getting a prescription from CVS, according to the CVS website.

Cyr: Medication abortion is routine medical care

“Medication abortion is routine medical care, this is not specialty care,” said Sen. Julian Cyr, D-Truro, adding the biggest barrier to additional reproductive health services, is the availability of workforce.

Cyr said earlier that people seeking reproductive health services including access to both medication abortion and surgical abortion had to either travel to Boston or to the Rhode Island border.

“Here in Massachusetts, we're working very hard to ensure that everyone has access to medically necessary health care, including abortion care.”

According to Kehoe, the sexual reproductive health services at Health Imperatives include birth control options counseling, including emergency contraception, long-acting reversible contraception, HIV prevention, Hepatitis C prevention and treatment, STI testing, and annual exams.

“About 40% of the people that we serve in our clinics are not eligible for preventive care,” said Kehoe.

Health Imperatives provides medication abortion services to anyone who wants or needs them, but they focus on people who “fall through the cracks of mainstream systems of care” that is, the people who have been disproportionately impacted by poverty and racism.

More accessible to the public

“The more access the better,” Kehoe said, applauding the move that Walgreens and CVS have made toward making medication abortion more accessible.

Cyr said reproductive health care should be widely available, particularly for geographically isolated regions like Cape Cod and the Islands.

“We need to be vigilant for what the unmet need continues to be, and to figure out ways to provide that routine care.”

Cape Cod Healthcare, which is the region’s biggest health care provider, operating two hospitals and six urgent care centers on the Cape, does not provide medication abortion services or surgical abortion services except in emergencies “when a woman’s life is in jeopardy,” according to a statement made by the company.

The health provider, which is affiliated with Beth Israel Lahey Health, refers patients to other clinics.

“It is reasonable to assume that the increased availability of these medications will further decrease any barriers to their appropriate use,” said William O. Agel, senior vice president, and chief medical officer at Cape Cod Healthcare, on CVS and Walgreens’ move.

Kehoe said the real concern is about the efforts in other states to prevent women from getting access to their right to abortion which is an “absolutely critical medical care.” She added that Massachusetts “is the best state in the country to be providing this service.”

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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: CVS, Walgreens to offer abortion pill mifepristone. Cape Cod responds.