{"id":9902,"date":"2024-06-24T08:55:19","date_gmt":"2024-06-24T08:55:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/twistkoala.com\/?p=9902"},"modified":"2024-09-12T08:49:49","modified_gmt":"2024-09-12T08:49:49","slug":"ca-woman-claims-cvs-denied-her-abortion-pill-after-miscarriage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/devserver.pw\/twistkoala.com\/ca-woman-claims-cvs-denied-her-abortion-pill-after-miscarriage\/","title":{"rendered":"CA woman claims CVS denied her abortion pill after miscarriage"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In summary<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

California has greatly expanded protections for abortion care since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. But enforcing the laws can be complicated, and some providers are confused about what is required of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After months of trying, Angela Costales eagerly watched her home pregnancy test come back positive. She and her husband were so excited that they filmed a video at 3am to document the moment \u2013 \u200b\u200bbut the joy they felt didn\u2019t last.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Costales\u2019 first ultrasound showed placental abnormalities and no fetal heartbeat. She had lost her pregnancy and her first chance to become a mother.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was devastating, she said. What happened next made her feel even worse: The CVS Pharmacy in her San Diego neighborhood, she said, refused to fill the prescription she was given to manage her miscarriage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The drug Costales needed was misoprostol, a pill commonly used to help with miscarriages that is also used in abortions. According to Costales and her attorney, three separate pharmacy employees refused to help her get the medication while she stood in the store bleeding and in pain on Dec. 20.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI couldn\u2019t believe what was happening,\u201d Costales said. \u201cI <\/strong>I really felt like I was in danger and [CVS]\u2026 denied my care without regard for my well-being.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Costales and the nonprofit National Women\u2019s Law Center claim the retail pharmacy chain broke federal and state laws when it fired her. They have issued a formal request to CVS in the form of a public letter outlining the CVS staff members who refuse to fill Costales\u2019 prescriptions and the laws violated by such refusal. The letter includes a list of demands, among them that CVS improve its policies and train employees nationwide to prevent similar occurrences. It requires CVS to post a notice at each pharmacy detailing \u201cpatients\u2019 rights to receive their prescribed medication.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Costales has not filed a lawsuit against CVS, but is not ruling one out, her attorney said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf it happened to me, it\u2019s happening to other people,\u201d Costales said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Become a CalMatters member today to stay informed, strengthen our nonpartisan news, and expand knowledge across California.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n
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    The company is investigating Costales\u2019 claims, CVS Pharmacy spokeswoman Amy Thibault said in a written statement.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

    Thibault said any pharmacist who has personal objections to dispensing certain medications should notify the company in advance so arrangements can be made to fill the prescription.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cOur highest priority is ensuring safe and timely access to medications for our patients, and we understand the important role that pharmacies serve in supporting women\u2019s health care. We have policies in place to ensure that no patient is denied access to medication prescribed by a physician based on a pharmacist\u2019s individual religious or moral beliefs,\u201d Thibault said in an email.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    More broadly, reproductive rights advocates say the alleged incident is a chilling reminder of how the national fight over abortion can spill over into deep blue California, affecting patient care. In the two years since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down federal abortion protections, California lawmakers have made major efforts to expand and protect reproductive health rights, and voters in 2022 amended the state constitution to include the right to an abortion. But enforcing the laws on the ground can be difficult, experts say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Legal scholars, doctors and abortion rights advocates also contend ongoing court battles and laws criminalizing abortion in other states could affect access to reproductive health everywhere \u2014 even when abortion isn\u2019t involved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cThis prescription was to manage ongoing miscarriage, and yet the employees at CVS, their stigma against anything that looks like an abortion or sounds like an abortion, interfered with their legal obligation to provide (Costales) with her medication,\u201d said Clara Spera, senior counsel for the National Women\u2019s Justice Center and Costales\u2019 attorney.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    California law requires pharmacies to dispense legally prescribed medications to patients and make accommodations for both the patient and the employee if an individual employee registers a bona fide objection to the dispensing of the medication. Costales\u2019 attorney said CVS violated that law \u2014 as well as the state\u2019s Unruh Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination based on sex or pregnancy-related conditions \u2014 when it denied her misoprostol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    CVS and its national competitor Walgreens have faced scrutiny from federal regulators before over similar complaints from patients nationwide. Last year, the Office of Civil Rights of the US Department of Health and Human Services published a settlement made by the companies after numerous complaints of discrimination for refusing drugs from women experiencing abortions and people with disabilities. The agreement included training pharmacy staff on reproductive health rights and monitoring drug refusals to ensure patients received prescriptions in a timely manner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Thibault did not respond to questions about when employees at Costales\u2019 local pharmacy were last trained on reproductive health rights or what specific company policies are in place to ensure patients receive medications on time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    A rare complication of pregnancy<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Based on Costales\u2019 ultrasound and other tests, she said doctors suspected she might have a molar pregnancy, a rare complication that can develop into cancer if left untreated. They recommended surgery to find out, she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Surgery is the only way to remove the tissue and confirm a molar pregnancy diagnosis, said Dr. Aparna Sridhar, an obstetrician and clinical associate professor at UCLA\u2019s David Geffen School of Medicine. Sridhar was not involved in Costales\u2019 care.<\/p>\n\n\n

    \n
    \"\"
    Angie Costales, 39, at her home in San Diego on June 14, 2024. Photo by Kristian Carreon for CalMatters<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

    After the procedure, Costales said she felt fine until a week later when she woke up bleeding profusely and in severe pain. In the emergency room, the doctor prescribed misoprostol to help her body finish expelling any remaining pregnancy tissue or uterine lining.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cI wanted to get the medication as soon as possible. And I wanted to come home and administer it so that we felt comfortable and at ease with the rest of our care plan,\u201d Costales said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    For most miscarriages and early pregnancy loss, Sridhar said the three management options are surgery, medication and waiting to see if the body successfully empties the uterus on its own. Determining the course of treatment should be a joint decision between the patient and the doctor, and all three options have been shown to be safe, Sridhar said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    But at the CVS pharmacy at 4829 Clairemont Drive, the first employee told Costales there was no prescription for her on file, the National Women\u2019s Law Center said in the letter. The second employee told her \u201cI don\u2019t know if we can fill this,\u201d according to the letter. And after asking to speak to the pharmacist for an explanation, Costales claims in the letter that the pharmacist said \u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter if I have it, I\u2019m not comfortable giving it to you\u201d and left.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The experience was humiliating, Costales said, adding that the shame and anger have lingered for months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cThe hardest part is that I feel like CVS took away my ability to mourn my pregnancy loss,\u201d Costales said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Abortion challenges continue<\/h3>\n\n\n
    \n
    \"\"
    The local CVS pharmacy where Angie Costales tried to fill her misoprostol prescription in San Diego\u2019s Clairemont neighborhood on June 14, 2024. Photo by Kristian Carreon for CalMatters<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

    CVS employees did not tell Costales why they refused to provide her with the prescribed medications, she said. However, California health experts say there has been confusion among providers about what the law requires since the U.S. Supreme Court two years ago overturned Roe v. Wade and ended the constitutional right to abortion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Last week, the Supreme Court rejected the latest bid by anti-abortion groups to overturn federal Food and Drug Administration regulations that expanded access to another drug, mifepristone, used for both abortion and miscarriage management. The plaintiffs were anti-abortion doctors who argued that they could be required to treat someone in the emergency room with an abortion-related complication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    In the ruling, Judge Brett Kavanaugh wrote that federal law guarantees \u201cbroad and comprehensive protection of conscience\u201d to doctors who oppose abortion and that the plaintiffs had no examples of having to treat a patient who had an abortion. The anti-abortion legal group leading the case against the FDA has already vowed to continue its legal battle<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Experts say religious and moral objections have been defended for decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cThis is the status quo. We\u2019ve decided that we\u2019re going to let people opt out of care they don\u2019t want to have,\u201d said Cathren Cohen, a staff attorney with the UCLA Center for Reproductive Health, Law and Policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Despite laws also protecting the patient\u2019s right to receive medical care, individuals may struggle to protect or defend themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cThis change of changing laws from day to day has a detrimental and chilling effect on the care that people are getting,\u201d Cohen said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Even in California, the ever-changing landscape causes uncertainty, said Dr. Josie Urbina, an obstetrician at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital. Doctors like her have a hard time keeping up with the ripple effects of national decision-making, and patients have a particularly hard time knowing what\u2019s available to them and what they\u2019re entitled to, she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cIt still causes confusion, it still makes people think \u2018This could affect me,’\u201d Urbina said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Spera, Costales\u2019 attorney, said the confusion and loss of federal abortion protections encourages people not involved in an individual\u2019s health care to say \u201cI know what\u2019s best.\u201d Costales said she wants Californians who identify with her story to know they have legal protection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cOne of the reasons I live in California is to make sure I\u2019m going to be protected and not have to worry about planning for my family,\u201d Costales said. \u201cHow many other people are being affected by this and having their rights ignored or violated?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Supported by the California Healthcare Foundation (CHCF), which works to ensure this<\/em> people have access to the care they need, when they need it, at a price they can afford. Visit <\/em>www.chcf.org<\/em> to learn more.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    #woman #claims #CVS #denied #abortion #pill #miscarriage
    Image Source : calmatters.org<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    In summary California has greatly expanded protections for abortion care since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. But enforcing the laws can be complicated, and some providers are confused about what is required of them. After months of trying, Angela Costales eagerly watched her home pregnancy test come back positive. She and her husband<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":10831,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-9902","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nutrition-diet"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/devserver.pw\/twistkoala.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9902","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/devserver.pw\/twistkoala.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/devserver.pw\/twistkoala.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devserver.pw\/twistkoala.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devserver.pw\/twistkoala.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9902"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/devserver.pw\/twistkoala.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9902\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10854,"href":"https:\/\/devserver.pw\/twistkoala.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9902\/revisions\/10854"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devserver.pw\/twistkoala.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/devserver.pw\/twistkoala.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devserver.pw\/twistkoala.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devserver.pw\/twistkoala.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}