New York Governor Kathy Hochul and state Attorney General Letitia James on Thursday called on the CEOs of major drugstore chains to push back against anti-abortion pressure and pledge to continue dispensing abortion medications.
Walgreens, which is run by New York-based Duane Reade, last week said it would not comply with mifepristone prescriptions in 20 GOP-led states after state attorneys general warned the company not to do it.
Access to abortion pills seems to be the next battle on the abortion rights front after the Supreme Court reversed the landmark Roe v. Wade last summer, allowing some states to restrict the medical procedure. California reacted quickly to the Walgreens withdrawal, with Governor Gavin Newsom cuts ties with the company and say that a $54 million contract will not be renewed.
Hochul and James called on pharmacies operating in New York not to give in to anti-abortion pressure.
“We urge you not to be intimidated by these tactics and to commit to making this critical medicine as widely available as possible, based on a fair and unbiased interpretation of state and federal law,” they said. in a letter to the CEOs of Walgreens, RiteAid and CVS.
“Although access to this drug is threatened elsewhere for political reasons, we remind you that New York law is simple,” Hochul and James continued. “Abortion is legal and protected as a fundamental right by state law, and there are no legal barriers to dispensing mifepristone at New York pharmacies.”
The governor of California attacked Walgreens on Wednesday following the company’s decision to stop distributing abortion pills in 20 states.
“California will not stand idly by as corporations give in to extremists and cut off critical access to reproductive freedom and care.” Newsom said in a statement. “California is on its way to becoming the fourth largest economy in the world and we will harness our market power to defend the right to choose.”
A Walgreens spokesperson saying the company was “deeply disappointed” by Newsom’s decision. The company clarified its position after the California controversy with a statement that says it would continue to dispense mifepristone “in any jurisdiction where it is legally permitted to do so.”
New York does not currently have any contracts with Walgreens, reported politician.
Earlier this year, the Food and Drug Administration Announced that Americans could receive abortion pills at retail pharmacies, a move that expanded access to medical abortion. fda state Mifepristone is safe and can be used together with another drug, misoprostol, “to terminate a pregnancy up to ten weeks gestation.”
Medical abortion accounts for more than half of abortions in the US, according to the Guttmacher Institute.
Discover more from PressNewsAgency
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.