CHARLOTTE, N.C. — After the decision to overturn Roe V. Wade left it up to states to decide if abortion should be legal, many drug stores have struggled to keep emergency contraceptives, like Plan B, in stock.
Many national retailers, including Amazon and Rite Aid, limited how many emergency contraceptives consumers could buy following the Supreme Court's ruling. Amazon initially limited customers to three units per week of the popular "morning after" pill.
It's had a big impact on smaller stores here in the Carolinas.
"Initially, we sold out, and then for a couple of weeks, I tried to get the product through whole different sales finally, I did get it back in stock last week," Greg Deese, owner of Oakhurst Pharmacy, said.
The VERIFY team has received questions about this and went to the experts to find out how long these "morning after" pills are OK to sit on the shelf.
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Greg Dees had been a pharmacist since 1984, but he's owned Oakhurst Pharmacy in Charlotte for the last two years. He remembers when the first morning after pill hit stores in 2006.
"Plan B went on the shelves it's been a while and it went through different phases before going on the shelves," Deese said.
According to the Mayo Clinic, the pill does not end a pregnancy where the embryo has already been implanted but rather works primarily by delaying or preventing ovulation after unprotected sex.
"When a woman needs it, she needs it then within 72 hours," Deese said.
Deese said for almost two weeks his pharmacy was unable to keep Plan B on its shelves after Roe v. Wade was overturned.
"Currently, my wholesaler gets six Plan B products," Deese explained. "Three are in stock, and three are still out of stock."
So how long is the medication good for?
"So just because it's got an expiration of 2025, it doesn't mean on April 1 it won't be beneficial," Deese said. "It just means that the testing of the product that was done originally shows that the maximum efficacy for the best results would be obtained by that date."
Most of the other "morning after" pill brands have the same shelf life of three-to-four years. So even though there's an expiration date, Deese says it may work later, it just may not be as effective.
Contact Meghan Bragg at mbragg@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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