House Democrats are urging five major pharmacy retailers to commit to dispensing mifepristone, the first pill used in medication abortions, after a recent Supreme Court ruling preserved access to the drug nationwide, according to a letter obtained by NOTUS.
Nearly 60 House Democrats — led by Reps. Dan Goldman and Judy Chu — signed a letter to Walmart, Safeway, Kroger, Costco and Health Mart calling on them to sell abortion pills. The companies have remained silent on whether they would obtain certification to dispense mifepristone.
Now that the Supreme Court has ruled to protect abortion pill access — at least for now — Democrats want the five pharmacies to take action.
“Following the Supreme Court’s recent decision maintaining access to mifepristone, retail pharmacies have no legitimate basis to further delay obtaining certification to distribute mifepristone,” Goldman said in a statement to NOTUS. “Any attempts to delay distribution of abortion medication are simply attempts at playing politics with women’s health care. These pharmacies have delayed long enough — the time for action is now.”
The companies did not immediately respond to NOTUS’ requests for comment.
“[W]e urge you to promptly outline the steps you must take to begin the certification process” to have abortion pills available “in states where it remains legal,” the lawmakers wrote.
Retailers, including CVS and Walgreens, the two largest pharmacy chains in the country, said that they would seek certification to sell mifepristone shortly after the FDA said last year that retail pharmacies would be allowed to offer the pill if they sought proper authorization from the agency.
Democratic lawmakers reached out to Walmart, Safeway, Kroger, Costco and Health Mart in June 2023 about offering mifepristone, but the companies did not say whether they planned to get certified.
At the time, Republican attorneys general threatened to enforce the Comstock Act — a federal law anti-abortion advocates believe could be used to enact a national abortion ban — against the pharmacies if they started dispensing mifepristone, a warning that legal experts said was toothless because state prosecutors cannot enforce a federal statute.
Since then, the Supreme Court ruled on an abortion case, Democrats in Congress introduced legislation to partially repeal Comstock, and former President Donald Trump pledged during the first presidential debate to “not block” mifepristone access.
The lawmakers are seeking responses from the retailers by July 12.
“[T]his lack of action to certify is misaligned with your publicly stated values in support of equal access to health care and in support of gender equality,” the new letter reads. “In light of escalating attacks on bodily autonomy and on people’s freedom to make their own health care decisions, we believe that your companies have a social responsibility to consumers and communities to address this issue as soon as possible.”
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Oriana González is a reporter at NOTUS.