This week, 17 Senate Democrats released a series of letters harassing major pharmaceutical chains about their plans to sell chemical abortion drugs. In one letter, the senators applied pressure to Walgreens, criticizing the corporation for doing “the disservice of adding to” what they call “great confusion about abortion access.” The letter critiques Walgreens for its “unacceptable” response to the concerns of 20 state attorneys general who previously wrote to the company explaining that they would be in violation of the law if they were to ship and dispense chemical abortion drugs within their states. Walgreens recently affirmed that it would not sell chemical abortion drugs in those 20 states.
In additional letters to Albertsons, Costco, Kroger, and Walmart, Senate Democrats attacked the pharmacy companies for staying silent about chemical abortion drugs. “We write with great frustration that Walmart has not indicated whether it plans to allow your customers to access mifepristone through your pharmacies,” the letter reads. Two additional letters sent to CVS Health and Rite Aid demand answers about the companies’ plans to advertise their sale of chemical abortion drugs and, seemingly, to disregard warnings about federal laws that prohibit shipping chemical abortion drugs. The letters all appear to reference a coalition letter led by Family Research Council, which urged pharmaceutical companies to refrain from joining the abortion industry.
It is beyond disturbing that Senate Democrats would harshly intimidate and bully private corporations to involve themselves in the unprecedented legal minefield surrounding abortion in America today. These senators are actively encouraging pharmacies to engage in legal and public relations nightmares, in direct violation of state and federal laws about which they have already received warnings. Walgreens is likewise facing harassment from California Governor Gavin Newsom (D), who has severed his state’s ties with the company for agreeing to comply with the law in states where the illegality of selling chemical abortion drugs would be enforced.
While letters urging pharmacies to abide by the rule of law have been authored with the intent to prevent these companies from suffering the consequences of joining the abortion industry (while simultaneously protecting mothers and babies from the deathly consequences of abortion), Senate Democrats clearly could not care less about the many risks that they are knowingly sending pharmaceutical companies to incur. Will Senators Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) repair CVS’s public image after it sells a woman the chemical abortion drugs that make her hemorrhage in her dorm room? How will Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) rescue Rite Aid when a non-Biden Department of Justice actually enforces existing federal law that prevents the mailing of chemical abortion drugs?
Senate Democrats should take a good look in the mirror and respond to the real, critical issues in their own states rather than pressuring private companies to wade into abortion controversy. A recent Pew Research survey indicates that abortion is nowhere near the top of the list when it comes to what issues concern Americans the most. However, matters like economic difficulty, cracking down on violent crime and illegal drugs, and assisting the poor are at the forefront of national concern. Signing an intimidating letter that emphasizes abortion extremism is easy for a Senate Democrat; crafting policies that actually make a positive impact on everyday Americans is a much taller order.
At the end of the day, Democrats won’t be there to help retail pharmacies pick up the pieces after a partnership with the abortion industry comes back to haunt them. These senators are merely seeking to distract from the real havoc that progressive policies have wreaked in their states, which harm the American people every day. If Democratic senators truly consider themselves “pro-choice,” they should practice what they preach and let retail pharmacies make their own informed decisions — especially about matters as serious as joining the abortion industry and breaking the law. With all the free time they’d gain from setting radical abortion activism aside, maybe they’d write legislation that actually improves human lives rather than simply ending them.
