Abortion: Pharmacies start rationing ‘morning after pills’ amid spike in demand

Yahoo Finance health care reporter Anjalee Khemlani details how pharmacies are rationing abortion pill drugs to deal with increased demand, as states expand and enact trigger laws in the wake of the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision.

Video Transcript

RACHELLE AKUFFO: Well, fallout from Roe versus Wade being overturned continues, including higher demand for emergency contraceptives. Yahoo Finance's health reporter Anjalee Khemlani joins us. Anjalee, what's the latest?

ANJALEE KHEMLANI: Well, Rachelle, we have a lot going on, like you said, in response since Friday. And we've watched the activity build over the weekend, spurring, actually, a meeting with the Health Secretary, Xavier Becerra, today, speaking on the broad focus of the administration and really some concern about what could be done in response to these state by state laws. Just listen to what he had to say earlier today.

XAVIER BECERRA: There is no magic bullet, but if there is something we can do, we will find it and we will do it at HHS.

ANJALEE KHEMLANI: You can hear that he is really talking about a-- everything on the table and mostly reassurance of the fact that there are federal rules in place and federal laws to support continued access, especially in emergencies. But it does also put a focus on what we know is the abortion pill. And there's also a focus on that as well. We know that state by state action has been taking place. On that note, Texas just joined Louisiana and Utah among the states that is including a halt on the abortion ban, so abortions can continue.

But this is also prompting more focus on contraception. So we're seeing a rush of emergency contraception purchase. We've seen Amazon, CVS, and Walmart among those that are limiting purchases for buyers. Amazon just joined with saying three per purchaser as of right now.

And that's the result of both fear that it could qualify as part of the ban based on labeling, and that's a very technical FDA related thing, as well as the fact that contraception was mentioned in Justice Clarence Thomas's concurring opinion, saying the court should, quote unquote, "reconsider past rulings on that." So there's a lot going on, as you can imagine. And we're seeing, of course, that rush to purchase contraceptives as we stand right now.