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We will witness a real example of the next generation of abortion wars in the post-Roe v. Wade United States.
Scene: local pharmacy.
In the coming days and weeks, anti-abortion activists are set to protest in the US outside dozens of pharmacies where the chain plans to sell abortion pills.
It was an attempt to recreate the decades-old scene of demonstrations outside abortion clinics, updated to a new target.
Different groups plan to stand outside, hold signs, sing and tell customers that the pharmacy will distribute abortion pills.
A new tandem of facts explains this unusual protest setting: As red states race to ban abortion after the Supreme Court’s June 2022 decision overturning Roe v. Wade – the 1973 decision that gave the right to abortion – the pill has become the main method. to terminate pregnancy in the US
And this pill, available onlinesent via mail and will soon be sold in participating pharmacies in pro-choice countries, threatening to overcome this new restrictive wall.
‘Roe is the pre-season for the real fight’
Hence the muted sense of celebration this year at the annual anti-abortion march in Washington, DC, the first since the abortion ban took effect in twenty countries.
The participants described the war as just beginning.
“Roe is a pre-season to the real fight,” activist Caroline Smith said in an interview at the annual March for Life rally on January 22.
“Some people are like, ‘Should we go for a walk [this year], like, what’s the point?’ Indeed, it is very important to still have this because we need to show people that the war is still going on.
Smith works with an anti-abortion group member has been charged in Michigan and Washington with blocking clinics, including one confrontation where the nurse tripped and sprained her ankle.
The last case involved the police grab the fetus from the fridge of one group member, held as part of a purported plan to ensure burials for 115 fetuses.
Now anti-abortion activists have focused on pharmacies.
The fight for Smith’s group, the Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising, increasingly involved the pill mifepristone and misoprostol.
Kate Kelly, with the advocacy group Shout Your Abortion, said that some groups in the US are working to study the availability of abortion drugs after Roe v. Wade was cancelled.
Why the next pharmacy?
These products have become the main source of abortions in the US, officially following a surgical abortion during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Biden administration is now moving to simplify the distribution of the pill: In states where abortion is legal, allow it retail pharmacy do the pill, and in other countries, it is a clue postal service not to stop the post.
The anti-abortion movement, meanwhile demanded the federal government to block the national pill, while also forcing the country to ban online prescriptions.
An ongoing pressure campaign is envisioned against major national pharmacy chains like CVS and Walgreens that have agreed to distribute the pills. It included a boycott drive – and an awkward scene on the sidewalk.
Demonstrations are planned in several cities on February 4, at Walgreens headquarters in suburban Chicago on February 14 and at more pharmacies on March 4.
“If I were the manager of CVS, I wouldn’t want us [standing] outside,” said Smith, who lives in Washington and will protest there. “It is social pressure and tension, and it must continue until that happens.”
According to Smith, the movement faces a real threat if, after investing decades to close clinics one by one, hundreds of pharmacies have sprung up there to offer abortion pills.
Biden administration: ‘We’re fighting back’
In a somber event on January 22nd to mark the 50th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade who is now dead, US Vice President Kamala Harris announced recently ordered the president instructing federal agencies to seek additional ways to make the pill more accessible.
Harris called the human impact of anti-abortion laws – as in 10 year old girl in Ohio who were sexually assaulted and had to go to another country to get an abortion, leading to death threats against providers.
Or that Texas woman almost died of sepsis because she miscarried and was rejected in her first three attempts for an emergency abortion.
Or a 14-year-old girl in Arizona with severe arthritis and osteoporosis who struggles to get critical care because her pills can cause pregnancy loss; his pharmacy was afraid of being sued.
Harris cited the state’s new anti-abortion laws designed by extremists. “Today we’re fighting back,” he said, as he announced President Joe Biden’s order.
The irony of the pharmacy protests is that one of the groups involved, Smith, would agree with progressive Democrats on some topics.
His Progressive Anti-Abortion Rebellion describes himself as a leftist; its members use the language of the left – they call the “industrial complex” abortion and “Big Pharma” as preying on “pregnant people.”
Sonja Morin, a graphic designer who works for the group and other anti-abortion organizations, said she will be protesting near Boston.
He said his protest tactics should match some of the real differences between giant drugstores and abortion clinics.
“Obviously it’s going to be trickier,” Morin said.
“You’re not going to go up to someone and say, ‘Hey, did you choose a medication abortion today for your prescription?’ Like, you don’t do it,” he said.
“We will have signage, we will have various things that say very blatantly, ‘Keep abortions out of our pharmacies.'”
Major chains say they want to participate
Morin said the goal is to start a conversation as a way to inform passersby about new developments: On January 3, The Biden administration announced that the abortion pillpreviously distributed by medical providers and some online organizations, will be available in popular retail pharmacies over the counter.
Some major chains have said they will join the plan – though only in countries where authorities allow it.
Morin’s colleague in the anti-abortion movement, Melanie Salazar, lives in Texas, a state where pharmacies won’t dispense the pill.
But they will also protest, because some pharmacy chains that follow the law in anti-abortion countries will still sell the pill in other countries.
People who live in states without abortion can have their prescriptions filled at participating stores in other states; they can also order from overseas, despite the US Food and Drug Administration it has been recommended not to do this.
“We have to be united,” Salazar said. “We must protect life under all circumstances. And that includes speaking out and boycotting your local big pharmacy.”
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