Walgreens confirmed Thursday that it will no longer sell the abortion pill in states where the attorney general opposes its distribution, even in states where the abortion method remains legal.
The pharmacy giant announced the decision after Republican attorneys general from 20 states sent letters to the company threatening legal action if it tried to ship the abortion drug in its territory. While Walgreens does not yet sell abortion pills in any state, it is in the process of obtaining certification to do so.
Politico was the first to report the decision.
“This is a complex and fluid area of the law, and we are considering it as we seek certification to distribute Mifepristone,” Fraser Engerman, Walgreens’ senior director of external relations, said in a statement, adding that the company has confirmed with each attorney general in a letter that will not dispense pills in the state by mail or at Walgreens locations.
Mifepristone is the first of two pills the patient must take to terminate the pregnancy by 10 weeks. It is the most common method of terminating a pregnancy in the US and is considered a “safe and effective” method of abortion by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
Walgreens’ decision means that patients in Alaska, Iowa, Kansas and Montana – which state that abortion pills are legal to receive through the mail or at a pharmacy – will not be able to do so at Walgreens because the state’s attorney general disagrees. . Walgreens, America’s second largest pharmacy chain, operates more than 160 locations in four states.
The attorney general argued that federal law prohibits the distribution of abortion pills by mail — a common way for pharmacies to send prescriptions to customers — and that President Joe Biden’s administration has illegally given pharmacies permission to do so.
CVS, the largest pharmacy chain in the US, also requested permission to distribute the drug and received letters from 20 attorneys general. It is not clear how the company plans to proceed.
Walgreens’ decision sparked an immediate backlash, with #BoycottWalgreens trending on social media Thursday night.
Lawmakers in Illinois, where the pharmaceutical is headquartered, were among those who spoke.
“Women across the country will be denied the right to access legitimate health care because of this bad corporate decision,” Illinois Governor JB Pritzker (D) tweetedadding that the company should “rethink this policy.”
“It’s terrible,” Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) tweeted. “This deliberate corporate choice will prevent many women from choosing the health care they need and are legally entitled to.”
Anti-abortion activists, meanwhile, are behind a lawsuit that wants to ban mifepristone outright. The case, which is now before a federal judge appointed by former President Donald Trump, does not seek to ban misoprostol — the second drug in the regimen. While patients can still manage abortions with just misoprostol, the drug is slightly less effective and may be more painful, doctors warn.