"We're done." Gov. Newsom says CA won't do business with Walgreens after its decision not to distribute abortion pills in 20 states
SACRAMENTO - Governor Gavin Newsom took aim at Walgreens Monday after the company announced it won't distribute abortion medication in 20 states.
The company announced its stance Thursday, bowing to pressure from anti-abortion lawmakers and lawsuits targeting the legality of medication abortion. The company said it will not dispense mifepristone, the first of two drugs in the medication abortion process, in 20 states following a February 1 letter from GOP attorneys general in those states.
In response to the decision, Governor Newsom retweeted CNN's story about the decision along with the following statement:
"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."
Recently, pharmacies have been caught in the middle of abortion battles, which have only escalated after the Supreme Court overturned landmark abortion case Roe v. Wade. Companies are trying to avoid becoming targets of lawmakers in states where they may face politically motivated reprisals.
GOP leaders have recently targeted businesses ranging from Disney to investment funds.
A letter dated Feb. 1 from Republican Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey to the nation's largest pharmacy-dispensing companies was co-signed by 19 other attorneys general warning that the sale of abortion pills would violate federal law and abortion laws in many states. Missouri is among the states that implemented strict abortion prohibitions last summer after the Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade.
Walgreens confirmed in a statement to CBS News that while it was "not dispensing Mifepristone at this time," it did tell the attorneys general of 20 states that they "do not intend to dispense Mifepristone in their states."
In November, California voters resoundingly approved a ballot measure to enshrine the right to abortion and contraception in the state constitution.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved mifepristone in 2000 to end a pregnancy when used in combination with a second drug, misoprostol. The combination is approved for use up to the 10th week of pregnancy.