California ‘Won’t Be Doing Business’ With Walgreens Over Abortion Pill Policy: Newsom

California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks during a United Nations climate action event in New York on Sept. 21, 2022. Monica Schipper/Getty Images for Bloomberg Philanthropies

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has vowed that the state will no longer be doing business with Walgreens after the pharmacy chain announced that it would not be distributing abortion pills in some states across the United States.

Newsom took to Twitter on Monday, where he declared of the state and Walgreens: “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,” Newsom wrote.

Separately, a spokesperson for Newsom told San Francisco’s SFGATE that California is “reviewing all relationships between Walgreens and the state.”

“We will not pursue business with companies that cave to right-wing bullies pushing their extremist agenda or companies that put politics above the health of women and girls,” the spokesperson added.

According to Walgreens, California was home to 586 of its stores as of August 2020.

The Epoch Times has contacted Walgreens for comment.

Republicans Say Walgreens Risks Breaking Law

The Democrat’s tweet came shortly after Walgreens said it will not dispense abortion pills 20 states whose Republican attorneys general wrote to the pharmacy chain stating that it risked breaking the law if it were to distribute the pills by mail (pdf).

That letter was sent on Feb. 1 and led by Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey. It was signed by attorneys general from 19 other states: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and West Virginia.

The attorneys general, in their letter, addressed the company’s recent announcement that it planned to obtain and sell mifepristone, one of the medications used in chemical abortions, via mail, and provided their thoughts on the current legal landscape pertaining to abortions.

Walgreens and a string of other pharmacy chains initially announced in January that they planned to seek certification with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to distribute mifepristone in physical stores and via mail after the agency rolled out a regulatory change allowing retail pharmacies to dispense the drug to people with a prescription, provided they were certified under special safety rules.

Prior to the regulatory change, only doctors and mail-order pharmacies or clinics were allowed to provide the pill.

In a letter responding to the attorneys general (pdf), Walgreens noted that while it has publicly expressed its intent to become a certified pharmacy under the Food and Drug Administration’s program, it has “made clear that it would do so consistent with all applicable laws and as a result would not be able to dispense Mifepristone in all locations.”

Abortion Drugs Challenged in Court

“Additionally, Walgreens has not made any representations about using our mailorder pharmacy business to dispense this drug,” Walgreens Global Chief Legal Officer Danielle C. Gray said. “Walgreens is not currently dispensing Mifepristone in any of its locations.”

The company subsequently issued a statement on Monday clarifying its position, noting that it plans to dispense Mifepristone in any jurisdictions where it is “legally permissible to do so.”

Currently, Walgreens does not sell Mifepristone anywhere as it is still seeking FDA certification.

“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 company said.

Mifepristone works by blocking the hormone progesterone, which is needed for a pregnancy to continue. When used together with another medicine called misoprostol, it ends a pregnancy up to 10 weeks after conception.

Medical abortions account for more than 50 percent of pregnancy terminations in the United States, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a pro-abortion research group.

U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk is shortly expected to rule on a lawsuit filed in November by the Alliance Defending Freedom, challenging the use of medical abortions nationwide.

That lawsuit argues that the FDA did not properly approve mifepristone for terminating pregnancies.