Gavin Newsom Torches Walgreens For Refusing To Sell Abortion Pills: CA ‘Won’t Do Business With Them’
The governor reacted to Walgreens naming Republican-led states where it will not sell the medication after pressure from anti-abortion lawmakers and lawsuits.
California Governor Gavin Newsom, 55, spoke out about Walgreens recently naming over 20 states in which they will not sell abortion medication at their stores. The politician took to Twitter on Monday to share a message that stated California “won’t be doing business with” the popular pharmacy store or “any company that cowers to the extremists and puts women’s lives at risk.” He ended the tweet, which can be seen below, with the words, “We’re done.”
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
Gavin’s reaction comes three days after Walgreens revealed the stores in the red states will not dispense mifepristone, which is the first of two drugs in the medication abortion process that ends “a intrauterine pregnancy through ten weeks gestation,” according to the FDA. The decision followed a Feb. 1st letter from GOP attorneys general in those states, CNN reported. The GOP leaders have also recently been targeting various businesses, including Disney and investment funds.
Walgreens – ya fucked up.
Can you say… CVS???
— Billy Baldwin (@BillyBaldwin) March 6, 2023
“We intend to be a certified pharmacy and will distribute mifepristone only in those jurisdictions where it is legal and operationally feasible,” Walgreens said in a statement, CNN further reported. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration previously said that pharmacies that become certified to dispense mifepristone can do so directly to a person who has a prescription from a certified prescriber.
Pharmacists have been refusing to fill these kind of meds for years at Walgreens. I don’t shop there never have.
— Peter Frampton (@peterframpton) March 6, 2023
The abortion medication, which reportedly accounts for the majority of abortions in the U.S., has become a controversial topic since the Supreme Court decided to overturn Roe Vs. Wade last year, and a federal judge in Texas is expected to soon make a ruling on a lawsuit looking to block the use of mifepristone nationwide. The lawsuit, which was filed by anti-abortion advocates in Nov., is the biggest abortion-related case since the overturn of Roe Vs. Wade, and threatens the FDA’s 20-year-old approval of mifepristone.
Far-right special interests are making progress in their plot to ban abortion nationwide, with @walgreens recently announcing it won't distribute abortion pills in some states where abortion remains legal. @GavinNewsom is right to hold extremists and their enablers accountable. https://t.co/o4MlEoWZK3
— Katie Porter (@katieporteroc) March 6, 2023
“If FDA approval of mifepristone is revoked, 64.5 million women of reproductive age in the U.S. would lose access to medication abortion care, an exponential increase in harm overnight,” NARAL reportedly said in a statement in Feb., referencing research.
Soon after Gavin shared his disapproval of Walgreens’ decision to not sell the abortion medication, some celebrities, including Billy Baldwin, Peter Frampton, and more, tweeted their support of his opinion. “Walgreens – ya f*cked up. Can you say…CVS?” Billy wrote in his message. “Pharmacists have been refusing to fill these kinds of meds for years at Walgreens. I don’t shop there never have,” Peter’s message read.
California congresswoman Katie Porter was another public figure to applaud Gavin’s words. “Far-right special interests are making progress in their plot to ban abortion nationwide, with @walgreens recently announcing it won’t distribute abortion pills in some states where abortion remains legal. @GavinNewsom is right to hold extremists and their enablers accountable,” her tweet read. Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar had a similar opinion when she tweeted, “This is exactly why we need to codify the protections of Roe vs. Wade and guarantee the right to access care.”
Michael Moore condemned Walgreens’ decision by calling for a national boycott of the pharmacy on his website. “This decision by Walgreens to further cement women’s status as second-class citizens must be met forcefully by each and every one of us. Every day of our silence since last Thursday is another day of you and I enabling this bigotry and misogyny,” he wrote on the site.
“Please join with me and others in a NATIONWIDE BOYCOTT OF WALGREENS. They must reverse their decision immediately,” he added. “They must acknowledge that nearly 70% of all Americans believe this legal prescription be made easily available to all women — and that the vast majority of Americans still support Roe v Wade.”
Michael also shared a list of all the states in which Walgreens refuses to sell the abortion medication. They include Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and West Virginia.