Regulatory changes announced by the Food and Drug Administration mean that mifepristone, which is the first of two drugs used to terminate a pregnancy, will be available in local drug stores in states where abortion is permitted.
A doctor's prescription will be needed to obtain the pills, which were previously only available from a few mail-order pharmacies or certified doctors and clinics.
In an equally significant development, the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) can continue to deliver prescription abortion medication despite a June 2022 Supreme Court ruling that overturned a landmark abortion rights decision, the Justice Department said on Tuesday.
The department's Office of Legal Counsel said in an opinion sought by USPS that the mailing of mifepristone and misoprostol, commonly used to terminate pregnancies, did not violate an 1873 law known as the Comstock Act.
Demand for abortion pills has risen since the conservative-dominated Supreme Court made a landmark ruling last June that overturned Roe v. Wade, a 1973 case that had guaranteed women's right to an abortion for half a century.
Abortion pills are already used in more than half of US procedures to terminate a pregnancy, experts say, and they have increasingly become a focus in the political and legal battle for abortion rights since the Supreme Court's controversial decision.
Pharmacies will need to receive certification to dispense the drug, while patients will need to complete a consent form.
The FDA's decision was welcomed by the American Civil Liberties Union.
"We are happy the FDA has increased pharmacy access to this safe and effective medication, relieving one of the agency's needless burdens on mifepristone patients," said Julia Kaye of the ACLU's Reproductive Freedom Project.
Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the anti-abortion organization Susan B. Anthony List slammed the decision.
"The Biden administration has once again proved that it values abortion industry profits over women's safety and unborn children's lives," Dannenfelser said in a statement.
This report was compiled with data from Reuters and Agence France-Presse.