California’s governor vowed not to do business with Walgreens after the country’s second-largest pharmacy banned the sale of abortion pills in 20 states that ban the procedure and required medications.
Gavin Newson announced the decision Monday in a tweet that read “We’re done,” following the company’s decision last week.
The move comes after Walgreens received pressure from anti-abortion lawmakers not to carry the drug Mifepristone, which makes up half of the combination used to induce an abortion.
“California will not do business with @walgreens — or any company that cringes at extremists and puts women’s lives at risk,” Newsom tweeted.
Gavin Newson announced the decision Monday in a tweet that read “We’re done,” following the company’s decision last week
The move comes after Walgreens received pressure from anti-abortion lawmakers not to carry the drug Mifepristone, which makes up half of the combination used to induce an abortion.
A Newsom spokesperson added that the state is re-evaluating its relationship with the pharmacy.
“We will not do business with companies that pander to right-wing bullies pushing their extremist agenda or companies that put politics before the health of women and girls,” said Brandon Richards. CNBC.
Newsom gave no further details about what his punishment for Walgreens would be. In some parts of the Golden State — including San Francisco — the drugstore has already closed many of its branches, blaming rising shoplifting as the cause.
The move comes just a few months after the Biden administration updated a regulation to allow Mifepriston, part of a two-drug cocktail to induce miscarriage, to be stored by prescription and dispensed to pharmacies at pregnant mothers.
GOP attorneys from these states sent letters to CVS, Rite Aid, Albertsons, Costco, Kroger, and Walmart.
In a response, Danielle Gray of the Walgreens legal team saidTo be certified by the FDA, as you know, participating pharmacies must meet a series of safety and risk mitigation requirements to dispense this drug.
“We are currently working on the certification process, including the evaluation of our pharmacy network to determine where we will dispense Mifepristone and training protocols and updates for our pharmacists.”
Mifepriston’s future is tenuous at best. A lawsuit filed in February by anti-abortion activists in Texas challenging the drug’s two-decade-old approval by the Food and Drug Administration.
The judge appointed for the case, Matthew Kacsmaryk, is a devout conservative and Donald Trump appointee. He is expected to side with the pro-life activists.
Taking the side of the plaintiffs would significantly disrupt access to abortion across the country. It would secure access to an abortion, even in states with no restrictions on the procedure.
It is likely that pro-choice advocates will appeal Kacsmaryk’s ruling.
The FDA has relaxed restrictions on abortion-inducing drugs in recent years.
Medication-induced abortion has been a lifeline for women in blue states and even red states since the Supreme Court lifted the federal guarantee for abortion
The combination of drugs, Mifepristone and Misoprostol, will be available from local pharmacies in early 2023.
Women can also be prescribed the pills via telemedicine and have them mailed to them by a foreign provider.
According to the Justice Department, the U.S. Postal Service can legally deliver abortion pills to people in states where the procedure is banned or restricted, saying federal law allows sending the pills because the sender has no way of knowing for sure whether the recipient use them illegally.
Medical abortion has become the most common method of terminating a pregnancy.
In 2020, the two-drug method was responsible for 54 percent of all abortions in the U.S., compared to about 44 percent in 2019.
This is due in part to the rise of telemedicine and a general preference to stay away from doctors’ offices during the pandemic.
The legal landscape for abortion has been in near constant flux since the Supreme Court dealt a fatal blow to legal access to abortion in the June 2022 decision in Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
Abortion rights advocates in both blue states and states with abortion restrictions have taken comfort in the fact that Mifepristone, a drug proven to be safer than carrying a pregnancy to term, will always be available with a doctor’s input.
But the Texas lawsuit, in addition to mounting pressure like what GOP lawyers show here, seriously jeopardizes access to the drug.
For many women, the medication is their only option for terminating a pregnancy.
