Some pharmacists fear jail time over murky abortion laws
In states with abortion bans, there's little guidance for dispensing the FDA-approved drug misoprostol which is often prescribed for miscarriage.
Alarm bells ring in Matt Murray’s head when a prescription for misoprostol comes through his independent pharmacy in Boise, Idaho.
“Are there directions on the prescription that show what it’s being used for?” said Murray, a pharmacist and director of operations for Customedica Pharmacy. “If not, then we would probably need to call the [doctor’s] office and confirm why it’s being prescribed.”
The medication is legal — approved by the Food and Drug Administration to prevent stomach ulcers — but it can also be used for abortions, which became illegal in Idaho with few exceptions when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.
When that happened, misoprostol went from “something that wasn’t on the radar but now sends up an alert in the pharmacy,” Murray said.
Misoprostol, which works by contracting the uterus, is also commonly used ahead of gynecologic procedures, such as the insertion of intrauterine devices for birth control, or after miscarriages, when pregnancies end on their own. The drug helps speed up the time it takes for a woman's body to expel the failed pregnancy.
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