Pharmacists could prescribe abortion pills all on their own if Alaska bill becomes law

JUNEAU (LifeSiteNews) — The Alaska House Labor & Commerce Committee has approved legislation that would empower pharmacists to prescribe a range of drugs instead of just dispensing them, which critics warn could include abortion drugs.

House Bill 195 amends the definition of “patient care services” provided by pharmacists to include the “prescription or administration of a drug or device to a patient” relating to the “cure or prevention of a disease, elimination or reduction of a patient’s symptoms, or arresting or slowing of a disease process.”

The bill does not specifically mention abortion or abortion-related drugs, but its open-ended language would allow for the possibility, which was cited by the Alaska State Medical Board in its declaration of opposition.

“The authority to broadly prescribe any medication would mean pharmacists would have the ability to diagnose and therefore treat any medical condition,” it added. “The diagnosis and treatment of medical conditions is the practice of medicine. The State Medical Board opposes pharmacists being granted the ability to practice medicine in Alaska.”

But the committee approved the measure on Wednesday, sending it to the Finance Committee for consideration.

The Alaska Watchman reports that Alaska Right to Life is urging opposition to the measure.

“If passed, HB 195 / SB 147 would expand Chemical Abortion (Mifepristone) access from Anchorage and Fairbanks Planned Parenthood sites to virtually every city, town, and village that has a hospital, clinic, or pharmacy,” says the group’s director Pat Martin. “To put this into perspective, 720 babies were killed by Chemical Abortions in 2024 through just three Planned Parenthood sites (now just 2 sites – Juneau closed last year). HB 195 / SB 147 could legalize more than 300 Chemical Abortion prescription and distribution sites. Not only does the number of sites distributing Chemical Abortions increase, but the number of Chemical Abortion prescribers increases.”

The abortion industry has increasingly relied on abortion pills since the fall of Roe v. Wade, despite the risks they pose to women. An April 2025 analysis by the Ethics & Public Policy Center (EPPC) concluded that almost 11 percent of women suffer sepsis, infection, hemorrhaging, or other major conditions after taking mifepristone, according to insurance data. That and similar findings by the Restoration of America Foundation are part of a “growing body of evidence indicating that the health risks associated with mifepristone abortions are severe, widespread, and significantly underreported.”