Retail giants CVS Health Corp. and Walmart Inc. have announced that they will be limiting the number of purchases of emergency contraceptive pills amid increased demand following the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
Drugstore chain Rite Aid Corp. is also limiting purchases of the “Plan B One-Step” morning-after pill, which is typically taken within 72 hours after a woman engages in unprotected sex or after birth control failure.
Plan B works by temporarily delaying ovulation or the release of an egg from the ovary, effectively preventing a pregnancy from happening.
The pills are not the same as medication abortion pills, which require a prescription and involve administering the medicines mifepristone and misoprostol to terminate a pregnancy.
“Walmart had some pills available without limits, but only in cases where they wouldn’t ship until next month,” according to The Wall Street Journal.
A CVS spokesperson told The Epoch Times: “We have ample supply of Plan B and Aftera across all of our CVS Pharmacy stores and CVS.com. To ensure equitable access and consistent supply on store shelves, we’ve implemented a temporary purchase limit of three on these products.”
A Walmart spokesperson told The Epoch Times: “Many of our products have online purchase limits in place. During times of fluctuating demand, these limits may change.” The spokesperson noted that it is standard practice for Walmart to have online limits to prevent stockpiling and reselling at higher prices. Additionally, while the company does not have limits in-store at this time, it may make decisions based on demand to help ensure availability.
Growing Demand
Walgreens Boots Alliance, the holding company that owns the Walgreens drugstore chain, initially had a limit in place for the pills on its website too, according to The Wall Street Journal, but a spokesperson said the restriction was an error and would be corrected while an investigation is being conducted into why and how that happened.Limits on the amount that can be purchased come as the pills were in short supply or out of stock the morning of June 27 across major retailer websites amid an uptick in purchases following the Supreme Court decision to overturn the 1973 precedent that legalized abortion in the United States.
The court, in a 6–3 ruling, upheld a Mississippi law that bans abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy and overturned Roe v. Wade, handing the power back down to states when it comes to making the rules around abortion laws.
Following the ruling, abortion bans in Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Utah, and Alabama went into immediate effect, and more states are expected to ban or severely restrict abortions in the near future.
