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Walgreens announced this week its intention to cease selling Mifepristone in several states. This was in response to threatening letters from 20 GOP Attorneys General, including some from states where the medication is still legal. This is a further blow to women’s efforts to control their own healthcare decisions. While Walgreens is in the midst of becoming an FDA certified distributor of the medication, they simply succumbed to the culture wars orchestrated by the GOP.
Mifepristone has been safe and legal in the United States for more than 20 years. According to the Guttmacher Institute, medication abortion accounts for more than half of all facility-based abortions in the U.S, proving to be a “game changer” in expanding abortion care in our country. It also can be a life-saver - especially in cases of miscarriages, where it is regularly prescribed.
Earlier this year President Joe Biden issued a Presidential Memorandum lifting the requirement forcing women to pick up the medication in person, thereby removing yet another obstacle to obtaining the drug.
Walgreen’s decision will push more women to access the drug from on-line pharmacies. While this may seem like a viable work around, this option also comes with challenges. An investigation found several online pharmacies selling Mifepristone are sharing sensitive data, including users' web addresses, relative location, and search data.This data can then be recoverable, allowing police to prosecute abortion seekers in states like Texas.
The battlefield for women’s reproductive rights keeps expanding and we need to keep pushing back even more.
What can you do?
Contact Walgreens and request they stock Mifepristone all over the country. (Click on this link to contact Walgreens.)
Get involved with the WI Supreme Court race — a race that can have implications not just for abortion rights but even the 2024 election. Write postcards and make phone calls to help get out the vote for pro-choice Janet Protasiewicz. She is running against Dan Kelly who has ties to anti-abortion groups. Prostasiewicz can tip the balance on the WI’s Supreme Court to overturn the state’s 1849 law, which makes it a felony to perform an abortion at any stage of pregnancy. Click here for postcard information. Click here for virtual phone banking information.
Support JAC’s pro-choice candidates such as Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), who this week introduced the Women's Health Protection Act to codify Roe v Wade.
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