‘If It Happened to Me, It’s Happening to Other People’: A California Woman Says CVS Refused to Fill Her Abortion Pill Prescription

Synopsis

Angela Costales and her husband were excited to be pregnant after months of trying. Then, at the first ultrasound, they learned that Angela was likely to have a molar pregnancy, a rare condition that can cause cancer. Angela had a surgical abortion, but needed misoprostol, a pill designed to help with both abortions and miscarriages, to expel the remaining tissue. When she went to get her prescription from her local CVS pharmacy in San Diego, the pharmacist refused to fill it. She stood in the store bleeding while three pharmacy employees denied her care. 

KQED follows Angela and the National Women’s Law Center as they wrote a public letter to CVS, alleging that the pharmacy had disregarded state and federal laws when they rejected filling her prescription on the basis of sex and pregnancy-related conditions. 

State abortion bans and restrictions don’t just affect care within their borders. They can cause widespread confusion, fuel abortion stigma, and make it harder for people everywhere to get the health care they need.