Editor’s Note: Mary Ziegler (@maryrziegler) is the Martin Luther King Professor of Law at UC Davis. She is the author of “Dollars for Life: The Antiabortion Movement and the Fall of the Republican Establishment” and the forthcoming book, “Roe: The History of a National Obsession.” The views expressed in this commentary are her own. Read more opinion on CNN.
CNN
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In January, some pharmacy chains announced plans to distribute mifepristone to patients with prescriptions, following a US Food and Drug Administration policy change permitting the direct sale of the abortion drug by certified pharmacies.
Just a few months later, one of the country’s biggest pharmacy retailers, Walgreens, abruptly announced that it wouldn’t distribute mifepristone in 21 Republican-controlled states. On Tuesday, Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a tweet that the state of California “won’t be doing business” with the chain, “or any company that cowers to the extremists and puts women’s lives at risk.” Walgreens told NPR in a statement on Friday that it’s working to sell the drug in “jurisdictions where it is legal and operationally feasible.”
One reason Walgreens’ move is so stunning is because the states where the company has decided not to make the drug available include several which have legalized abortion or protected it under their state constitution—including Florida, Kansas and Montana.
In Florida, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has pledged to sign a ban on abortion at six weeks, but nothing has crossed his desk yet and abortion remains legal in the state until 15 weeks. In Kansas and Montana, voters last year rejected ballot initiatives eroding abortion rights.
None of that seemed to make any difference to Walgreens. Nor did it matter that no lawsuit has been filed challenging the sale of the abortion medication. The warning of potential legal action was enough to make the company backtrack.
Walgreens’ decision sends a chilling message: the mere threat of legal consequences counts for more with some in corporate America than the very real lives of the women.
In a February letter sent to Walgreens and other pharmacies, a number of state attorneys general warned—falsely—that distributing abortion medication through…
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