Walgreens announced last week that it would stop selling mifepristone, a popular abortion pill, in the red states. California Governor Gavin Newsom said his state would cut ties with the pharmaceutical giant following the move.
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Walgreens announced last week that it would stop selling mifepristone, a popular abortion pill, in the red states. California Governor Gavin Newsom said his state would cut ties with the pharmaceutical giant following the move.
Image of Michael M. Santiago/Getty
Last week, Walgreens said it doesn’t deliver abortion pills in states where Republican officials have threatened legal action. Now, a green state says it will sever ties with the pharmaceutical giant because of the move.
“California will not do business with @walgreens – or any company that cowers in the face of extremists and puts women’s lives at risk,” Governor Gavin Newsom wrote in a related tweet yesterday. link to news of Walgreen’s decision.
“We’re done,” he added.
A spokesman for Governor Newsom told NPR that “all relationships between Walgreens and the state” are being reviewed, but declined to share details, including a timeline. walnuts shares fell 1.77% on Monday after Newsom’s announcement.
Walgreens has been laid off ever since confirmed last week that it will not distribute the popular abortion drug mifepristone in certain states after 20 Republican state attorneys general sent letters threatening legal action.
An FDA decision in January allowed retail pharmacies to start selling mifepristone as long as they completed the certification process. Last month, 20 Republican state attorneys general sent a letter threatening legal action against companies that started selling drugs. That leaves Walgreens, along with other national pharmaceutical giants like RiteAid and CVS, to make tough decisions.
walnuts told NPR on Friday that it will still take steps to sell mifepristone in “legal and operationally viable jurisdictions.” But the drug – also used to reduce miscarriages – is still legal in some states that threaten the Walgreens, including Alaska, Iowa, Kansas and Montana.
Walgreens did not respond to NPR’s latest attempt to clarify its position or respond to Newsom’s statement. The company released a statement on Monday saying that that they are awaiting FDA approval to distribute mifepristone “in accordance with federal and state law.”
California, that would be on its way to becoming the world’s fourth largest economy if it’s the country itself, there’s tremendous purchasing power in the healthcare market.
More than 13 million Californians rely on the state’s Medicaid program. Other 1.5 million, including dependents up to the age of 26, covered by CalPERS, its retirement insurance program.
Even if the state only cuts Walgreens from state employee insurance programs, the company could see a big financial impact: State insurance more than 200,000 full-time employees.
Medical abortion, as opposed to surgery, is the most common way people end a pregnancy, accounts for more than half of all abortions in the US
In addition to Republican legal threats to the wider distribution of mifepristone, an ongoing federal case in Texas is challenging the FDA’s approval of the drug, aiming to remove it entirely from the market.
by NPR Sarah McCammon And Kaitlyn Radde contribution report.
