by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist
In January of this year the US Food and Drug Administration passed a new rule which created a path for pharmacies to get certified to sell Mifepristone, a medication that, among other things, can be used to terminate pregnancies and is commonly referred to as the "abortion pill." But before any pharmacy could complete the certification process, twenty state attorneys general - all Republicans - took the initiative and sent letters to national pharmacy chains informing them that their offices would take legal action if those pharmacies tried to sell abortion pills in their states.
Upon receipt of the letters, Walgreens immediately rolled over an agreed not the sell the medication in any of those twenty states, even though the medication remained legal in four of them: Alaskas, Iowa, Kansas, and Montana.
In addition to Walgreens, the pharmacy chains of CVS, Costco, Walmart, Rite Aid, Albertsons, and Kroeger had also received the threats.
The sale of Mifepristone had been relegated to speciality offices and clinics for more than two decades, but in December of 2021 the FDA moved to allow it to be prescribed by doctors in Telehealth appointments and approved distribution through the mail. Currently there is a case proceeding before a Trump-appointed judge that seeks two overturn the FDA's approval of Mifepristone altogether.
But Walgreens apparently does not need a national ban to force them out of the market - a mean letter from a lawyer from a lawyer will suffice!
Shame on you, Walgreens. America's women deserve better.
1 comment:
Kris Kobach appears to be making the illegality of mifepristone out of whole cloth.
His office does not have an Attorney General's Opinion on file on the topic. Indeed, the only AG's opinion he has issued pertains to groundwater.
Rather than bucking to Kobach's jawboning, Walgreens, and now CVS, would better serve their customers by filing suit and asking for declaratory relief about the mythical law Kobach is enforcing. They stand to lose business over Kobach's loss. I, for one, will not be shopping at any drugstore that refuses to provide essential legal medications to women.
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