Walgreens, one of the country’s largest pharmacy retail chains, said Thursday that it would not dispense abortion pills in many states where it remains legal.
According to Politico, around two dozen state attorneys general wrote last month to Walgreens, threatening to pursue legal action against the company if it began distributing abortion pills. This week, the company confirmed to the outlet that “they will not dispense abortion pills either by mail or at their brick-and-mortar stores in those states” (via Politico):
The list includes several states where abortion in general, and the medications specifically, remain legal — including Alaska, Iowa, Kansas and Montana. For example, Kansas’ law that patients only obtain the pills directly from a physician is blocked in court.
“There is currently complexity around this issue in Kansas and elsewhere,” said Fraser Engerman, Walgreens’ senior director of external relations.
The company stressed that it is not yet distributing the pills anywhere in the country, but is working to obtain certification to do so in some states, though declined to say which.
“In my letter to Walgreens, we made clear that Kansas will not hesitate to enforce the laws against mailing and dispensing abortion pills, including bringing a RICO action to enforce the federal law prohibiting the mailing of abortion pills,” Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach said in a statement. “Evidently, Walgreens understood that my office was serious about this. I’m grateful that Walgreens responded quickly and reasonably and intends to comply with the relevant laws.”
Kristi Hamrick, a spokesperson for the pro-life organization Students for Life, told the outlet that the response “indicates that pro-life concerns are being heard.”
In a statement to CBS News, Walgreens said it intended to “become a certified pharmacy under the program; however, we will only dispense [abortion pills] in those jurisdictions where it is legal to do if we are certified."
Last year, a study published by the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute claimed that in 2020, medication abortions accounted for 54 percent of all abortions in the United States. In 2017, this figure was 39 percent, according to the study which Townhall covered.
“[T]he proportion for medication abortion use is not expected to fall below 50%,” the findings noted.
Medication abortions are carried out by taking two drugs, mifepristone and misoprostol. The first pill blocks the supply of pregnancy hormones, allowing the unborn baby to grow. The second pill, taken about a day later, expels the pregnancy.
The Guttmacher study boasted that “medication abortion can be completed outside of a medical setting—for example, in the comfort and privacy of one’s home” and that “pills can be provided at a clinic or delivered directly to a patient through the mail.” The latter is often referred to as a “telemedicine abortion,” which the Biden administration promotes through its resources like ReproductiveRights.gov.
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