Walgreens confirmed Thursday that it will not dispense abortion pills in nearly two dozen Republican states.
The attorneys general of those states wrote to Walgreens in February warning it not to distribute what has become the most common method of procuring an abortion. In January, the Biden administration acted to allow retail pharmacies to dispense the pills if they go through a certification process. Only clinics, doctors, and a few mail-order pharmacies were allowed to in the past. However, state laws are still controlling.
“Walgreens is not currently dispensing Mifepristone in any of its locations. As you know, to become certified by the FDA, participating pharmacies must satisfy a range of safety and risk mitigation requirements to dispense this drug. At this time, we are working through the certification process, which includes the evaluation of our pharmacy network to determine where we will dispense Mifepristone and training protocols and updates for our pharmacists,” wrote Walgreens executive vice president Danielle Gray to Kansas attorney general Kris Kobach in February.
“Walgreens does not intend to dispense Mifepristone within your state and does not intend to ship Mifepristone into your state from any of our pharmacies. If this approach changes, we will be sure to notify you,” Gray added.
The company said it has responded to all the attorney general letters.
In all of the states in question, abortion is either banned or laws or proposed or pending legislation would prevent pharmacists from dispensing pills. Walgreens’s approach suggests it is acting cautiously given the shifting policy landscape. For example, in Kansas, a law requiring physicians to dispense the drug is currently enjoined by a legal challenge.
Students for Life spokesperson Kristi Hamrick cheered Walgreens’s decision.
“This response indicates that pro-life concerns are being heard and that corporations are not rushing to take over the abortion business but are proceeding cautiously,” she told Politico.
While it is not dispensing anywhere yet, Walgreens did clarify it intends to do so where it clearly remains legal.
The FDA certification for mifepristone is currently being challenged in court by Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative legal group. They argue that the agency never had the authority to approve the use of the two-pill regimen of mifepristone and misoprostol when it did so nearly a quarter century ago.
The group also claims the FDA failed to properly study the safety of the two-pill regimen, and for almost two decades stonewalled the doctors who were attempting to challenge the approval of the regimen.