FOX NEWS
The nation’s second-largest pharmacy chain will not sell abortion pills in 20 states after Republican Attorney Generals warned of potential legal consequences if it did so, Fox News Digital has confirmed.
In February, twenty Republican state Attorneys Generals wrote to Walgreens Corp. threatening legal action if Walgreens provides the abortion pill, mifepristone, to consumers in their pharmacies across the U.S.
The attorneys general cited 18 U.S.C. § 1461, which is a federal law prohibiting the use of the U.S. postal service to send or receive any drug that will “be used or applied for producing abortion.”
The attorneys general noted that President Biden, “encouraged the U.S. Postal Service to disregard this plain text” previously.
“But the text, not the Biden administration’s view, is what governs. And the Biden administration’s opinion fails to stand up even to the slightest amount of scrutiny” the Attorney Generals argued in their Feb. 1 letter to Walgreens Corp.
The Republican lawmakers shared that they, “reject the Biden administration’s bizarre interpretation” of the federal law prohibiting abortion drugs to be shipped, and they would take the case to the Supreme Court if necessary.
Attorneys general from the following state wrote the letter in disagreement with Walgreen’s policy include: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and West Virginia.
Following the letter from the Republican Attorney Generals, Walgreen’s shifted their plan, sharing it will not dispense mifepristone in their states as well as not planning to ship the drug to consumers either.
The drugstore chain’s announcement Thursday signals that access to mifepristone may not expand as broadly as federal regulators intended in January, when they finalized a rule change allowing more pharmacies to provide the pill.
However, Walgreens is working to become eligible through the FDA’s certification process.
The company is not currently dispensing the pills anywhere.