As of 5 p.m. on Thursday, all state Wal-Mart pharmacies had stocked the emergency contraception pill, or Plan B, following a mandate from the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Pharmacy obligating the superstore to hold “commonly prescribed medications,” a decision that could lead to similar rulings in other states.
“This is the first time the Board has ever forced a pharmacy chain to stock a product. CVS and Walgreens, the two other major pharmacy chains in Massachusetts, both stock emergency contraception,” said Donna Rheaume, a Massachusetts Department of Public Health spokeswoman.
The Board, which regulates all pharmacies in the Commonwealth, ruled unanimously on Tuesday that Wal-Mart pharmacies must stock emergency contraceptive products, the most popular being Plan B, also known as the morning-after pill, which can be used to prevent conception within 72 hours after sexual intercourse.
And in response to the Board’s decision combined with pressure from pro-choice groups, Wal-Mart executives are considering changing the store’s national policy involving the prescription of emergency contraception, possibly to avoid further litigation in other states.
“Women’s health is a high priority for Wal-Mart, so clearly there are broader considerations, and we are giving this a lot of thought,” Dan Fogleman, Wal-Mart spokesman, said in an email.
Fogleman added that Wal-Mart chooses not carry many different pharmaceutical products, including emergency contraception, for “business reasons,” including a low demand for the drugs that would make stocking them unprofitable.
The ruling came two weeks after three women jointly filed complaints with the Board and in state court. They asserted that Wal-Mart, in failing to fill their prescriptions for Plan B, violated a state pharmacy regulation requiring all pharmacies to provide “commonly prescribed medications in accordance with the usual needs of the community.”
Samuel Perkins, the attorney for the three women filing suit, said Wal-Mart’s reasoning for refusing to stock emergency contraception is not defensible.
“If you look at every other national, large chain of pharmacies across the country, including Massachusetts, every single other large chain stocks Plan B,” Perkins said. “It would be surprising to see all these companies doing something that would lead them to lose money – that would be bad business for them. So I think that Wal-Mart’s suggestion that they do this as a business decision because the drug isn’t profitable is clearly not true.”
Although Perkins could not provide details about possible legal action against Wal-Mart in other states or at the federal level, he believes the issue will continue to receive publicity following the movement’s success in Massachusetts.
“I think that what you’re going to see is a lot of very concerted action by national advocacy groups, doing demonstrations, sending women into Wal-Mart stores with prescriptions, trying to get publicity for the idea that women are demanding a drug that Wal-Mart doesn’t stock,” Perkins said. “I think you’re going to see both litigation and demonstrations to continue the pressure and to keep it a very public issue.”
Illinois is the only other state in which Wal-Mart pharmacies have been required to carry emergency contraception.
Pro-life advocates claim that using Plan B equates to abortion and that the pill’s long-term health risks are unknown, while pro-choice advocates see Plan B and its widespread availability as being crucial for the maintenance of women’s reproductive freedom.
Though the pill’s producer Barr Laboratories Inc. has petitioned the Food and Drug Administration to make the pill available over the counter, the approval process has been fraught with delays and accusations of political interference.