California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said the state is “done” doing business with Walgreens, accusing the company of cowering “to the extremists” for refusing to provide abortion pills to several Republican states.
“California won’t be doing business with @walgreens— or any company that cowers to the extremists and puts women’s lives at risk. We’re done,” Newsom said on Monday:
California won't be doing business with @walgreens — or any company that cowers to the extremists and puts women's lives at risk.
We're done.https://t.co/OB10cYfm8H
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) March 6, 2023
Newsom’s warning followed Walgreens announcing that it will not provide abortion pills in 20 Republican states following several attorneys general warning the company that it could be breaking the law if it chose to provide the abortifacients — primarily, mifepristone.
“I will enforce the laws as written,” Republican Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey wrote in a letter co-signed by 19 other attorneys general. “That includes laws protecting the health of women and their unborn children.
“The FDA rule is in direct violation of federal law, and the unelected bureaucrats at the FDA have no authority to change Missouri law, either,” the letter reads, referring to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) broadening the availability of abortion pills.
“The people’s elected representatives have spoken on the issue of abortion in our state, and we will fight to uphold that in court,” Bailey added.
As Breitbart News reported last month, “Several pro-life organizations, 67 members of Congress and 23 state attorneys general filed briefs in a lawsuit against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), asking the court to block the agency’s approval of mifepristone, the first pill used in a two-step medication abortion regimen.”
The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the North District of Texas in November of 2022 against the FDA on behalf of four national medical associations and several doctors, alleging that the agency “chose politics over science and approved chemical abortion drugs for use in the United States.” The lawsuit points to six discrete agency actions since the legalization of mifepristone and misoprostol in 2000, and asks the court to hold the actions unlawful, which would ultimately take mifepristone off the market.
An amicus brief filed by 22 states (Missouri filed separately for a total of 23) in support of the medical associations and doctors states that “rather than respect the Constitution, the Supreme Court, and the democratic process, the Biden Administration has attacked and worked to undermine the considered judgments of the elected representatives of States like amici.”
According to Reuters, a spokesperson for Walgreens affirmed the company opted against providing the pills in those states due to the warning from the attorneys general.
“They said Walgreens intended to become a certified pharmacy and would only dispense in jurisdictions where it was legal to do so,” according to the report.
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