'We're done;' Gov. Newsom says California won't do business with Walgreens over abortion pill stance

SACRAMENTO -- Governor Gavin Newsom says the state will no longer do business with the Walgreens drug store chain over its position on providing abortion pills.

Walgreens on Thursday announced it would not distribute mifepristone, one of two drugs typically used to induce a medicated abortion, in 20 states weeks after receiving a warning from those states' attorneys general that such sales would violate the states' abortion laws.

"California won't be doing business with @walgreens -- or any company that cowers to the extremists and puts women's lives at risk," said Newsom in a tweet Monday morning. "We're done."

Newsom has vowed to make California a safe haven for those seeking abortion from states where abortion prohibitions were enacted following the decision by the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade last summer. In November, California voters resoundingly approved a ballot measure to enshrine the right to abortion and contraception in the state constitution.

"By taking away access to medication abortion or abortion, you push it out later and you make it more dangerous," said Dr. Sophia Yen, CEO and co-founder of Pandia Health. She supports abortion rights and applauds the governor's actions. "This medication is absolutely safe, it's been approved by the FDA for 20 plus years and to take it away is absolutely a political maneuver."

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.

In addition to Missouri, the attorneys general from Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah and West Virginia signed the letter.

"I don't think medication like that should be given out without a prescription and just over counter, or even in a place like CVS or Walgreens, I think it's dangerous," said Kristin Turner, the executive director of Pro-Life San Francisco, an anti-abortion group. "We'll be entering pharmacies, protesting loudly against the use of abortion pills kill children."

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."

Politico was first to report about Walgreens' decision.

On Monday, Walgreens issued a subsequent statement clarifying its stance on mifepristone.

We want to be very clear about what our position has always been: Walgreens plans to dispense Mifepristone in any jurisdiction where it is legally permissible to do so," said the statement on the company's website. "Once we are certified by the FDA, we will dispense this medication consistent with federal and state laws. Providing legally approved medications to patients is what pharmacies do, and is rooted in our commitment to the communities in which we operate."  

The drugstore chain's announcement Thursday signals that access to mifepristone may not expand as broadly as federal regulators intended in January, when they finalized a rule change allowing more pharmacies to provide the pill after they undergo certification. That includes meeting standards for shipping, tracking and confidentially storing prescribing information.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved mifepristone in 2000 to end pregnancy when used in combination with a second drug, misoprostol. The combination is approved for use up to the 10th week of pregnancy.

"I have two daughters, I have a daughter applying to college,  I'm not gonna' let her apply to any state that doesn't trust her with bodily autonomy," Yen told KPIX on Monday. "Taking away a safe medication, makes it more dangerous, makes it harder, and risks women's lives."

In November, an anti-abortion group filed a federal lawsuit in Texas seeking to revoke mifepristone's approval, claiming the FDA approved the drug 23 years ago without adequate evidence of safety.

"I definitely think we're going to be looking at state by state battles, every state is incredibly different," Turner said in a recent interview with KPIX. "As someone who has lived in California my whole life, and who is an advocate in California, my battle is definitely going to be educating people and being on the ground doing crisis intervention at abortion facilities."

A federal judge could rule soon. If he sides with abortion opponents, mifepristone could potentially be removed from the U.S. market.

Legal experts foresee years of court battles over access to the pills.

In:
• Gavin Newsom
• Abortion
• California