Walgreens introduced final week that it could cease promoting mifepristone, a preferred abortion capsule, in pink states. California Gov. Gavin Newsom says his state will sever ties with the pharmaceutical big after the transfer.
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Walgreens introduced final week that it could cease promoting mifepristone, a preferred abortion capsule, in pink states. California Gov. Gavin Newsom says his state will sever ties with the pharmaceutical big after the transfer.
Michael M. Santiago/Getty Photos
Walgreens introduced final week this isn’t distribution abortion capsules in states the place Republican officers are threatening authorized motion. Now the blue state says it can sever ties with the pharmaceutical big because of the transfer.
“California won’t do enterprise with @walgreens – or any firm that cowards extremists and places girls’s lives in danger,” Gov. Gavin Newsom tweeted yesterday, referring to information protection of Walgreen’s determination.
“We’re executed,” he added.
A spokesman for Gov. Newsom advised NPR that “your complete relationship between Walgreens and the state” is below overview, however declined to supply particulars, together with a timeline. Walgreens shares fell 1.77% on Monday after Newsom’s announcement.
Walgreens has come below fireplace because it confirmed final week that it could not promote the favored abortion capsule mifepristone in some states after 20 Republican state attorneys common despatched letters threatening authorized motion.
An FDA determination in January allowed retail pharmacies to start promoting mifepristone in the event that they handed the certification course of. Final month, 20 Republican state attorneys common despatched a letter threatening to sue firms that began promoting the capsules. This left Walgreens, together with different nationwide drug giants corresponding to RiteAid and CVS, with tough selections.
On Friday, Walgreens advised NPR that it could proceed to take steps to promote mifepristone in “jurisdictions the place it’s authorized and practicable.” However the drug, which can be used to ease miscarriages, remains to be authorized in a number of the states threatening Walgreens, together with Alaska, Iowa, Kansas and Montana.
Walgreens didn’t reply to NPR’s newest try to make clear its place or reply to Newsom’s assertion. The corporate launched a press release on Monday saying it’s awaiting FDA approval to grant mifepristone “in accordance with federal and state legal guidelines.”
California, which might be on monitor to change into the world’s fourth largest financial system if it have been a separate nation, has large buying energy within the healthcare market.
Greater than 13 million Californians depend on the state’s Medicaid program. An extra 1.5 million individuals, together with dependents below the age of 26, are coated by CalPERS.
Even when the state solely removes Walgreens from authorities worker insurance coverage, the corporate may face massive monetary repercussions, with the state insuring greater than 200,000 full-time staff.
Medical abortion, in contrast to surgical procedure, is the most well-liked type of abortion, accounting for greater than half of all abortions in america.
Along with authorized threats from Republicans in opposition to wider distribution of mifepristone, an ongoing federal case in Texas is difficult the drug’s FDA approval, searching for to take away it from the market totally.
NPR Sara McCammon And Caitlin Rudde made a report.
