White House slams lawmakers for urging pharmacies not to provide abortion pills

Justin Rex Associated Press Battle over mifepristone ignited after the US Supreme Court's decision to blast abortion rights. Pictured are protesters outside the courthouse in Amarillo, Texas on February 11.

The White House on Friday denounced elected officials for pressuring pharmacies not to distribute abortion pills, following a decision by Walgreens not to sell them in several states where they remain legal.

< p>“The targeting of pharmacies by elected officials and their ability to provide women with access to safe, effective, and [medicines agency]-approved medicines is dangerous and simply unacceptable,” the spokesperson said. speech by the American executive, Karine Jean-Pierre, during a press briefing.

She was referring to a February 1 letter co-signed by twenty state attorneys general to Walgreens and CVS warning the groups of possible legal action if they distribute mifepristone, one of the two pills used for interruptions, by mail. pregnancy drugs.

Walgreens, one of the nation's largest drugstore chains, confirmed to AFP that they responded to attorneys general by saying they “have no intention of distributing mifepristone in their respective states.”

The battle around this drug ignited after the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States to dynamite the right to abortion, last June.

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Fifteen states have since banned voluntary termination of pregnancy on their soil and abortion pills are illegal there.

Abortion, however, remains legal in several of the states where Walgreens plans not to distribute the abortion pill, such as Montana, Iowa, Kansas or Alaska.

Wagreens emphasizes that it still intends to be certified to be able to distribute the abortion pill, as authorized since January by the American drug agency (FDA).

But once obtained the necessary certification, its pharmacies will sell the drug “only in jurisdictions where it is legal and operationally feasible,” a group spokesperson added without elaborating.

Before COVID-19, the pill could only be delivered in person in very specific locations, including clinics performing abortions.

With the pandemic, the FDA accepted that it could be mailed, including after a telemedicine consultation, and decided in January that any certified pharmacy could market it.

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