California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said the state is cutting ties with Walgreens, the nation’s second-largest pharmacy store chain, after it was revealed that the company will refuse to sell abortion pills to consumers in 20 GOP controlled states.
“California won’t be doing business with Walgreens ― or any company that cowers to the extremists and puts women’s lives at risk,” Newsom wrote in a tweet on Monday, sharing a link to a CNN article about the company. “We’re done.” Newsom did not specify what business the state does with the chain, and his office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But a Newsom spokesperson told Reuters that “all relationships” between Walgreens and the state of California are under review.
Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last summer, abortion care has been severely restricted. Many states have passed or are in the process of introducing legislation to limit abortion, while some access remains blocked by lawsuits. Some Republicans are specifically going after medication abortion, a safe, commonly used method to end a pregnancy.
Walgreens’ decision came earlier this month after 20 Republican state attorneys general signed a five-page letter on Feb. 1 urging Walgreens and CVS not to mail or distribute abortion pills in their states.
Walgreens wrote letters to the Republican attorneys general confirming that its stores do not yet distribute mifepristone, one of two pills used for medication abortion, and would not dispense or ship the drug to their states, Politico reported last week. Mifepristone can be combined with another medication, misoprostol, or used alone. Abortion by way of medication makes up half of all procedures across the U.S., according to the Guttmacher Institute. The medications are also prescribed for miscarriage care.
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