When the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced earlier this year that it would allow drugstore chains to sell mifepristone, the highly regulated first drug taken in a two-drug regimen for medication abortion, Walgreens and other pharmacy chains eagerly stepped up and said they would go through the required certification process.
But after attorneys general in 20 Republican-led states wrote an ominous letter to Walgreens’ executive vice president reminding her of abortion laws and warning — questionably — that it was illegal to mail abortion pills in the U.S., the company told several news outlets that it would not sell in those states. The company received a similar letter from Kansas Atty. Gen. Kris Kobach — and wrote back saying it wouldn’t sell the drug in Kansas.
Walgreens insisted in statements in recent days that once it was certified, it would sell the abortion pills in states where it was legal.
