Alaska House bill would let pharmacists prescribe and distribute abortion pills

A bill that pro-lifers warn could radically expand abortion pill distribution in Alaska passed the Alaska House Labor & Commerce Committee on February 16.

Key Takeaways:

• HB 195/SB 147 would allow pharmacists to prescribe and distribute medication, including the abortion pill.

• The bill is opposed by the Alaska Medical Board, which warns that pharmacists should not be granted the ability to practice medicine.

• The bill was introduced in April 2025, but didn't gain traction until passing the House and Labor Commerce Committee this week.

The Details:

The Alaska Watchman reports that House Bill 195 (and its companion Senate Bill 147) would give pharmacists the ability to prescribe and distribute medication and medical devices — including the abortion pill, mifepristone.

The legislation was introduced in April 2025, but didn't gain traction until this week, when it passed the House and Labor Commerce Committee.

The bill has an opponent on the Alaska Medical Board, which issued a statement last year warning that the legislation would give pharmacists the same authority as medical doctors. The group wrote:

The authority to broadly prescribe any medication would mean pharmacists would have the ability to diagnose and therefore treat any medical condition. 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.

Alaska Right to Life is also actively campaigning against the legislation.

“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,” Alaska Right to Life Director Pat Martin warned in an email alert.

Why It Matters:

The abortion pill regimen consists of the drug mifepristone, which starves the baby of the nutrients it needs to survive in his mother's womb. The next drug, misoprostol, causes contractions, resulting in the mother delivering her baby. Women have recounted being traumatized at seeing the remains of their aborted children, often passed in a toilet or the shower.

The abortion pill regimen comes with many risks, with one study finding it to be four times more dangerous than a first-trimester surgical abortion.

In another analysis, researchers searched insurance data regarding “serious adverse events” resulting from mifepristone and reportedly found a 22 times higher event rate than the rate currently held by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). These complications included hemorrhaging, infection, sepsis, transfusions, hospitalization, and more.

Though it used to be a requirement that women receive the abortion pill from a doctor after an in-person visit, that requirement was removed by the Biden administration in 2021.

This loosening of the abortion pill's restrictions means that women are often receiving deadly abortion drugs without any verification of their gestational age or confirmation that they don't have any contraindications or an ectopic pregnancy — issues that could increase their risk in taking the abortion pill.

The Bottom Line:

Alaska's attempt to give pharmacists the ability to prescribe and distribute the deadly abortion pill further increases potential risks women may face, as they undergo the abortion without consulting with any type of physician.