A Washington state-based nonprofit has launched a program training pharmacists to prescribe abortion medications via telehealth, a model that organizers hope other states will adopt to expand abortion access.
Abortion is broadly legal in Washington state up to the point of fetal viability, which is generally considered to be between 24 and 26 weeks of pregnancy. But Dr. Beth Rivin, president and CEO of nonprofit Uplift International, said there are still many individuals who face barriers to abortion access in Washington because of where they live, how much money they make and other factors. Those people can benefit most from having access to telehealth, Rivin said, and having pharmacists available helps increase that availability.
The nonprofit partnered with an online pharmacy called Honeybee Health to launch what they’re calling the Pharmacist Abortion Access Project. Ten pharmacists were recruited and trained to prescribe mifepristone and misoprostol, the standard U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved medication abortion regimen, to patients in Washington up to 10 weeks’ gestation.
Rivin said the team created its training protocol with Dr. Sarah Prager, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Washington. The program also has a list of clinics where patients can be referred if any in-person follow-up care is necessary, including ultrasounds, blood tests or other exams.
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“If (patients) had questions, the platform allowed for messaging between the pharmacist and the individual, and patients were followed up with at one week and four to five weeks after prescriptions were written,” Rivin said.
Over the past two years, anti-abortion groups have increasingly called for more state legislation targeting abortion drugs, alleging telemedicine for abortion pills is dangerous to a pregnant person’s health. Research has repeatedly shown that telehealth prescriptions are just as safe as in-person treatment, with one recent study showing 99.7% of patients out of a sample of 6,000 did not experience any serious complications. Similarly, 97.7% didn’t need any form of additional follow-up care.
“Research confirms that medication abortion can be prescribed through telehealth just as safely as in person, and it confirms that pharmacists can specifically prescribe medication abortion,” Rivin told States Newsroom. “The training they undergo through (the project) mirrors the training that other providers receive.”
The Heritage Foundation, the conservative group behind a set of policies known as Project 2025, has gathered several examples of abortion pills given to pregnant women without their consent. Using those examples, the organization recommends states ban telemedicine and mail-order abortion pills and strengthen or enact laws targeting abortion coercion. There have also been calls to use a dormant federal law called the Comstock Act to ban abortion pills from being sent by mail altogether.
Proof of residency not required to obtain pills by mail
By the end of the Washington pilot program, which took place between Oct. 31 and Nov. 26, 2024, the pharmacists successfully prescribed medication abortion to 43 people who were deemed eligible. To qualify, aside from the applicable medical protocol, the patient needed to be 18 or older and have a Washington address where the medication could be mailed. The recipient of the medication does not need to prove they are a Washington resident, but a valid Washington address must be provided. Washington has shield laws preventing states where abortion is illegal from investigating medical providers if a resident of that state obtains an abortion in Washington.
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Following the success of the pilot, Uplift International said it plans to expand the program across Washington and explore pharmacists prescribing medication abortion in person from brick-and-mortar pharmacies.
Rivin said the hope is that the project paves the way for other states to implement the same model, especially as President-elect Donald Trump takes office and Republicans in Congress may eye more federal abortion restrictions.
“It is the first step toward mainstreaming pharmacists as prescribers of medication abortion in person,” Rivin said.
Don Downing, a clinical pharmacy professor emeritus at the University of Washington and co-director of the project, said Washington has one of the most progressive pharmacy laws in the country. State law has recognized pharmacists as health care providers since 1979, allowing them to prescribe many medications approved by the FDA.
Washington shares that progressive pharmacy law status with one of its border states, Idaho, where pharmacists can also prescribe medications for minor ailments such as cold sores and allergies, as well as drugs for treatment of illnesses such as flu and strep throat. Downing said Idaho’s pharmacy laws are actually even more progressive than Washington’s.
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However, Idaho has an abortion policy that could hardly be more different. It is the only state in the Northwest with a near-total abortion ban, a civil enforcement law allowing family members to sue medical providers who perform an abortion, and a so-called “abortion trafficking” law making it a felony to take a minor to a state with legal abortion access without parental permission.
Ironically, Downing said the pilot team announced the project in Idaho during an annual pharmacy meeting held at a resort in Coeur d’Alene with pharmacists from Montana, Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Alaska.
“We presented the idea of pharmacists becoming much more involved in medication abortion access at that meeting, and it was surreal because Idaho at that time was just pouncing on women’s access to abortion,” Downing said.
Providing prescriptions via telehealth first was the priority, he said, because after conducting several listening sessions before launching the pilot, the consensus among women interviewed was that they preferred the privacy of an online experience.
“If you’re in a small town, if you go to the doctor’s office, you go to the school nurse, a pharmacy, there’s a good chance you’re going to see a neighbor, a relative, and someone is for sure going to ask you what you’re doing there today,” Downing said. “Women nationwide are increasingly saying, if I can get it online the same way we buy from Amazon, if I can do this without running into my aunt, so much the better.”
Two military veterans in the Legislature introduced bills Thursday that would require elementary students in Florida to take their classes with former presidents George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. The bills, HB 371 and SB 420 would require portraits of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln to be hung in a “conspicuous place” in all K-5 classrooms […]
Hillsboro, Washington County set aside a combined $400,000 to help communities impacted by immigration arrests.
Oregon’s most diverse county declared a state of emergency this week because of increased immigration enforcement that has cloaked much of the community in fear over the past few weeks.
The declaration allows the county to tap into $200,000 in contingency funds it can give to community organizations helping residents impacted by the ongoing enforcement surge. It was unanimously approved by the county Board of Commissioners on Tuesday.
Community members attend a meeting at the Washington County public services building in Hillsboro, Ore., on Oct. 28, 2025. Community members made their case for the commission to declare a state of emergency over a recent increase in immigration enforcement in the area.
Holly Bartholomew / OPB
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The move follows at least 135 reported arrests by immigration enforcement in the county in October, according to the Portland Immigration Rights Coalition. This number accounts for nearly half the 329 arrests made throughout the state in October.
While the county has not yet decided which community organizations will receive emergency funds, SOAR Immigration Legal Services requested a portion of the money.
SOAR legal assistant Celeste Mora-Morales was one of a number of public commenters at Tuesday’s meeting.
“We are receiving over 100 calls every day,” she said. “There’s broken glass all over Hillsboro.”
Her comments alluded to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers regularly breaking car windows to make arrests.
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County Administrator Tanya Ange said staff would follow up with the board next week with plans on how to spend the $200,000 unlocked by the emergency declaration.
The state of emergency lasts until the end of the calendar year. It coincides with a second state of emergency declared by the commission Tuesday over a loss of access to the Supplemental Nutrition Access Program. That declaration will redirect $250,000 to the Oregon Food Bank.
Fear of the ongoing immigration arrests, which have swept up multiple people lawfully living in the US, has kept many Washington County residents from leaving their homes, meaning they have to miss work, school or doctor’s appointments.
“Fear has become a daily companion for far too many in our community,” Hillsboro United Methodist Pastor Rhett Ansley said at a Tuesday meeting of the Hillsboro City Council.
At its meeting, the Hillsboro City Council heard more than three hours of public testimony about the devastating impacts the recent enforcement actions.
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The council allocated its own $200,000 for a “low-barrier” grant program that would benefit affected residents and will continue discussing the matter at a meeting Nov. 18.
Washington County Commissioner Jason Snider compared immigration officials’ apparently intentional infliction of fear and distress in the community to acts of terror. However, he also noted the limits of the county’s authority in the face of federal law.
“We have an obligation to follow federal law,” Snider said. “I want to make sure the expectations of the community are aligned with what we are actually considering,” meaning the county was not directing the sheriff’s office to step in during ICE action, as some community members had asked.
Commissioner Nafisa Fai said she felt the declaration did not go far enough to protect Washington County residents. She said the county should consider additional measures like suspending rental evictions or utility shutoffs as families deal with the detainment of their primary income earners or fear leaving home to work.
“There are other tools in our toolbox that we can (use to) help residents,” she said. “The situation the community faces demands aggressive action to safeguard our residents.”
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Commission Chair Kathryn Harrington expressed support for all local, state and federal officials lawfully performing their duties.
“That includes supporting lawful immigration,” she said.
When the prospect of an emergency declaration related to the recent ICE activity was previously broached, Harrington was not on board with the idea, saying it was important to safeguard money the county receives from the federal government. Earlier this year, the commission altered the county’s diversity, equity and inclusion policies to avoid running afoul of the Trump administration.
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The Southwest Washington mayor won a third term Tuesday and voters appeared to be passing Proposition 5.
Incumbent Vancouver Mayor Anne McEnerny-Ogle enjoys a performance while talking with attendees at her election night party at the Fire Union Hall in Vancouver, Wash., on Nov. 4, 2025.
Eli Imadali / OPB
Anne McEnerny-Ogle won a third term as mayor of Vancouver on Tuesday night, beating her opponent Justin Forsman by a wide margin.
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“Our work obviously isn’t done,” McEnerny-Ogle said to a crowd of supporters at the Vancouver Local 452 Fire Hall after early election results came in.
“We’ll build that I-5 bridge, we’ll build the Heights, we’ll continue working with our homeless,” she said, calling out a number of local livability issues before telling the crowd to be sure to take home extra baked potatoes.
McEnerny-Ogle has long been a face in Vancouver politics. After a 30-year career as a public school teacher, she was elected as a city councilor in 2014. She became the first woman to serve as mayor of Vancouver in 2018. Now 72 years old, her term as mayor will last through 2029.
Priorities for her next term will include development of a mixed-use neighborhood in Central Vancouver known as the Heights District, helping expand police staffing with levies like Proposition 5, which also appeared to be passing on Tuesday night, and starting construction on the Interstate Bridge Replacement, a slow-moving megaproject that has been further delayed by the federal government shutdown.
“I’m the strongest advocate for the bridge because it’s right in our living room for the city of Vancouver,” she said.
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Her last eight years as mayor were defined by a period of tremendous change in Washington state’s second fastest growing city. That growth has led to problems, like a persistent housing shortage and growing homelessness.
McEnerny-Ogle served as mayor throughout the Covid-19 pandemic. “Every day I came to work,” she said.
As mayor, she is often found holding together fractious coalitions in Southwest Washington. She’s heavily involved with Oregon and Washington state officials, the board of the local transit agency, C-TRAN, and the two states’ congressional delegations on matters related to the I-5 bridge.
At the local level, McEnerny-Ogle contributes to the relationship between Vancouver and Clark County’s smaller cities’ response to a regional homelessness crisis.
Her opponent, Justin Forsman, earned nearly 30% of the vote as of 9 p.m. Tuesday.
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Forsman runs a small telecom business in Vancouver. His defeat in the mayoral race adds to a series of failed bids for Vancouver City Council and the Washington state Legislature. In campaign statements, Forsman said he is an advocate against the herbicide glyphosate, 5G cellular towers and water fluoridation. His platform included a range of conservative interests, such as rejecting sanctuary city policies, enhanced 2nd Amendment protections, and what he described as medical freedom.
Voters approve Proposition 5
Voters in Vancouver appeared to be approving Proposition 5, based on early results in Tuesday’s general election. It will fund approximately 13 new officers in the Vancouver Police Department. The tax levy’s passage would mark a small step forward in the city’s effort to shore up police staffing levels.
Proposition 5 will increase taxes by $0.15 per $1,000 of assessed value on property in Vancouver. That translates to an increase of about $75 annually on a $500,000 home, according to the city.
The 13 new officers funded by the levy amount to fewer new hires than in past funding proposals. A similar 2024 levy aimed to hire 80 new police officers and 36 non-officer positions. That levy’s failure led to the scaled-back request this year.
Vancouver ranks low when it comes to officers per capita compared to other Washington cities of comparable size. Vancouver had 11.4 officers per 10,000 people, according to 2024 FBI data. Other cities with populations of 90,000 or more include Tacoma, with 15.31 officers, and Everett, with 17.79 officers per 10,000 people.
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The city is also planning to hire additional officers with state funding for law enforcement approved during the last legislative session. According to City Manager Lon Pluckhahn, Vancouver is expecting to hire another dozen officers beyond the levy with a share of $100 million allocated for police departments around the state by the legislature and Gov. Bob Ferguson.
Additional officers hired with Proposition 5 funds would be fully trained in early 2027, according to VPD spokesperson Kim Kapp.
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