Gavin Newsom Ends $54 Million Walgreens Contract Because It Won’t Sell Abortion Pills in Pro-Life States

State   |   Micaiah Bilger   |   Mar 9, 2023   |   10:54AM   |   Sacramento, California

California’s pro-abortion governor is punishing Walgreens just for agreeing to follow state laws that protect unborn babies from abortion.

The pharmacy chain soon plans to begin selling abortion drugs in more than half the country after the Biden administration dropped safety regulations for mifepristone in January. However, Walgreens also said it will abide by the laws in states that ban or restrict abortions, and that made California Gov. Gavin Newsom angry.

This week, Newsom’s administration announced that the state will not renew a $54 million contract with Walgreens as a result, Fox News reports.

“We’re serious about not investing in companies that cave to the extremist agenda of the @GOP,” the Democrat governor wrote Wednesday on Twitter.

While claiming “moral” superiority, Newsom bragged about how big the California economy is, suggesting Walgreens had better cave to his own pro-abortion demands and risk legal action in pro-life states, or the business will suffer, the report continues.

“California is on track to be the fourth largest economy in the world and we will leverage our market power to defend the right to choose,” he said in a statement.

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In an interview with Politico, Newsom continued, “So, we have, we believe, moral authority, but we also have formal authority and will exercise it in partnership with the Legislature, and in the absence of that, through executive action.”

Responding, a Walgreens spokesperson told Fox News that the governor’s claims are “false and misleading,” and the company plans to sell abortion drugs in states where it is legal to do so.

“We are deeply disappointed by the decision by the state of California not to renew our longstanding contract due to false and misleading information,” the spokesperson said. “Walgreens is facing the same circumstances as all retail pharmacies, and no other retail pharmacies have said that they would approach this situation differently, so it’s unclear where this contract would now be moved.”

Earlier this year, CVS and RiteAid also announced plans to begin selling abortion drugs that are used to kill unborn babies up to about 10 weeks of pregnancy.

Their decisions came after the Biden administration dropped safety regulations for the dangerous abortion drug mifepristone, which has been linked to the deaths of millions of babies and dozens of women. Previously, mifepristone only could be dispensed by FDA-approved abortion facilities, medical offices and hospitals under the direct supervision of a licensed physician.

In response, pro-life advocates launched boycotts and 20 Republican state attorneys general sent letters to the pharmacies warning them not to sell abortion drugs in their states. The state leaders said the Biden administration’s changes are dangerous and illegal, and they will take legal action if pharmacies violate state or federal laws.

The attorneys general pointed the companies to a federal law that bans mailing abortion drugs, as well as their individual state laws that prohibit or restrict abortion drugs. They also expressed concerns about the well-being of women and children in their states, noting the risk of injury and death as well as coerced and forced abortions.

“Abortion pills impose far higher risks of complications compared to surgical abortions. In addition, abortion pills, especially when distributed by mail, make coerced abortions much easier,” they said.

Walgreens responded to the letter by confirming that it does not plan to sell abortion drugs in their states.

The drug mifepristone, typically used with a second drug, misoprostol, now is used for more than half of all abortions in the U.S. every year, or nearly half a million unborn babies, according to the Guttmacher Institute.

The FDA has linked mifepristone to at least 28 women’s deaths and 4,000 serious complications between 2000 and 2018. However, under President Barack Obama, the FDA stopped requiring that non-fatal complications from mifepristone be reported. So the numbers almost certainly are much higher.

Studies indicate the risks are more common than what abortion activists often claim, with as many as one in 17 women requiring hospital treatment.

Right now, a federal judge is considering a lawsuit from four medical groups that challenges the FDA approval of mifepristone as an abortion drug. The medical organizations accused the agency of ignoring evidence of safety problems and failing to properly study the risks.