CVS and Walgreens plan to dispense abortion pills. Oregon’s AG is leading a group in support

(The Center Square) – Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum is leading a coalition supporting CVS and Walgreens pharmacies’ plans to start offering mifepristone and misoprostol, also known as chemical abortions, in their stores.

The companies announced their intentions last month after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) tweaked its rules. The FDA will now allow retail pharmacies to dispense mifepristone to people who obtain a prescription for it. As a result, Walgreens and CBS are seeking FDA approval to dispense the drug.

Rosenblum spearheaded a letter sent to CVS and Walgreens signed by 23 attorneys general supporting their desire to make it easier for women to have abortions.

“Mifepristone and misoprostol are safe, effective medications that are prescribed by doctors for many purposes, including abortion,” Oregon Attorney General Rosenblum said in a press release issued by her office.” Attorneys general in anti-abortion states are trying to scare retail pharmacy chains away from offering these critical medications. But, in a time when reproductive health care is under attack, our group of 23 attorneys general strongly believe we should be encouraging companies and providers to offer easily accessible, safe, and confidential healthcare as broadly as possible.”

As Rosenblum notes, pro-life attorneys general have taken the opposite approach. For example, Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach sent Walgreens’ leadership a letter earlier this month warning Walgreens against providing abortion pills to Kansans via mail order, which is illegal federally.

“No self-respecting lawyer would read the law in such a way that is clearly inconsistent with its plain meaning,” Kobach’s letter reads. “President Biden is beholden to the country’s most extreme pro-abortion voices, who consistently advocate for expanding the abortion regime without any consideration of legality or even women’s safety. But nothing requires you to join him. The law says what it says. I encourage you to follow it.”

The 23 Democratic attorneys general said in their letter that they think CVS and Walgreens legally have a right to dispense mifepristone and misoprostol for abortion.

“Mifepristone and misoprostol are safe, effective medications that are used lawfully for a variety of purposes that comport with federal and state law,” the attorneys general wrote in their letter. “They are FDA-approved for use in terminating a pregnancy through ten weeks gestation, which is a protected right under many states’ laws. In short, the antiquated legal theory the anti-abortion states attempt to revive is meritless and has been repeatedly and consistently rejected.”

States that had an attorney general sign the letter include: Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington.