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The drugstore chains CVS Health and Walgreens plan to start dispensing an abortion pill in a few states within weeks. CVS Health will start filling prescriptions for mifepristone in Rhode Island and neighboring Massachusetts “in the weeks ahead,” spokeswoman Amy Thibault said Friday. Walgreens will begin dispensing the medication within a week, spokesman Fraser Engerman said. The chain will start with some locations in New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, California and Illinois. (Murphy, 3/1)

The Department of Veterans Affairs on Monday will finalize its policy of providing abortions to veterans and other beneficiaries in certain cases, including in states that have banned the procedure, according to a federal notice. The move will make the abortion policy official, but the VA has been providing veterans and covered dependents abortions on an interim basis since September 2022 -- just months after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade -- if the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest, or their life or health is at risk because of the pregnancy. The policy also allows VA doctors to provide abortion counseling to any patient. (Kheel, 3/1)

Along with hosting one of the nation’s most competitive races for governor and serving as a make-or-break state for either party’s road to the White House, North Carolina will offer one of the latest referendums on abortion in 2024. (Kuchar, 3/4)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: California Pushes To Expand The Universe Of Abortion Care Providers

California’s efforts to expand access to abortion care are enabling more types of medical practitioners to perform certain abortion procedures — potentially a boon for patients in rural areas especially, but a source of concern for doctors’ groups that have long fought efforts to expand the role of non-physicians. The latest move is a law that enables trained physician assistants, also known as physician associates, to perform first-trimester abortions without a supervising physician present. (Udesky, 3/4)

Women’s rights groups on Monday were gearing up to celebrate France becoming the first country in the world to explicitly enshrine abortion rights in its constitution — an effort galvanized by the rollback of protections in the United States. On Monday evening, French lawmakers will vote in a special meeting at Versailles on whether to add abortion to the constitution as a “guaranteed freedom.” The bill needs the approval of three-fifths of lawmakers. But because the lower and upper houses already overwhelmingly endorsed it in separate votes, there is little suspense about the outcome of the joint session. (Adam, 3/4)