Senate Democrats sent a letter Monday to the largest pharmacy chains in America, pressuring them to begin selling deadly abortion drugs.
Three already have agreed to do so: Walgreens, CVS and RiteAid after the Biden administration got rid of safety regulations for the dangerous abortion drug mifepristone in January.
Used up to 10 weeks of pregnancy, the abortion drug 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. Now, women can buy them at a pharmacy or through the mail and take them at home without ever seeing a doctor.
On Monday, 17 Democrat lawmakers led by U.S. Sen Patty Murray, of Washington, urged Walmart, Costco, Kroger and Albertsons to apply for an FDA certification to begin selling the abortion drugs in their pharmacies and/or through the mail.
“We write with great frustration that [your company] has not indicated whether it plans to allow your customers to access mifepristone through your pharmacies,” the senators wrote.
REACH PRO-LIFE PEOPLE WORLDWIDE! Advertise with LifeNews to reach hundreds of thousands of pro-life readers every week. Contact us today.
Claiming access to abortion drugs is “vital” and “critical,” Murray and the other senators asked the companies to respond with their decisions by March 21.
However, the companies that have announced plans to sell abortion pills already are facing boycotts and protests from pro-life advocates.
And Walgreens is facing boycotts from both sides of the abortion debate after the company said it only will sell abortion pills in states where it’s legal to do so. California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a pro-abortion Democrat, even went so far as to punish Walgreens by ending its $54 million state contract.
The pro-abortion hubbub over Walgreens’s decision may have the opposite effect of what abortion activists intend. Instead of angering both sides and face boycotts, pharmacy companies may choose to not get involved at all in the deadly abortion trade.
In recent weeks, the other major pharmacy chains have been very quiet about the matter including Walmart, which did not immediately respond to a request from the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Walmart, which is based in Bentonville, Arkansas, operates about 4,700 pharmacies throughout the U.S.
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, killing nearly half a million unborn babies, according to the Guttmacher Institute.
Because of the Biden administration, the abortion drugs soon will be even more readily available at Walgreens, CVS and RiteAid, and more unborn babies’ and mothers’ lives will be at risk.
Pro-life organizations are urging Americans to boycott the pharmacy chains. Students for Life, 40 Days for Life, Live Action, the Pro-Life Action League and others also have organized protests.
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.
In letters to the pharmacy companies earlier this year, 20 Republican state attorneys general warned about these and other dangers, and threatened legal action if the companies violate their state laws.
“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.
They pointed the companies to state laws that prohibit or regulate abortion drugs as well as a federal law that bans mailing abortion drugs.
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.
