Walgreens responds to Kobach demand, won’t sell abortion pills in Kansas
In the latest development over abortion in Kansas, Walgreens has announced it will not dispense abortion pills after receiving a letter from Attorney General Kris Kobach.
The move comes six months after voters affirmed abortion rights in August by rejecting the “Value Them Both” constitutional amendment that would have empowered the state Legislature to ban abortions.
In a Feb. 6 letter to the pharmacy giant regarding the dispensing of the abortion-inducing drug Mifepristone, Kobach said sending the pills to Kansas violates state and federal laws and threatened to prosecute if it happens.
“As the chief law enforcement officer in Kansas, I am writing to advise you that this plan is illegal and Kansas will not hesitate to enforce the law,” Kobach wrote to Walgreens.
In a response letter, Walgreens acknowledged it is seeking federal certification to sell the drug, but said not in Kansas.
“Walgreens is not currently dispensing Mifepristone in any of its locations, said the letter by Danielle C. Gray, the company’s chief legal officer and executive vice president. “Walgreens does not intend to dispense Mifepristone within your state and does not intend to ship Mifepristone into your state from any of our pharmacies. If this approach changes, we will be sure to notify you.”
The legality of such sales is a matter of contention.
The Biden Administration allowed mailing of abortion-inducing drugs as an emergency measure during the COVID-19 pandemic and the Justice Department has issued an opinion that it can continue.
Kobach disagrees.
“It is illegal to knowingly mail any article or thing designed, adapted or intended for producing abortion,” the letter from Kobach read. “It is also illegal to a mail any article, instrument, substance, drug, medicine or thing which is advertised or described in a manner calculated to lead another to use or apply it for producing abortion.”
Kobach also cited a Kansas law requiring women to take abortion drugs in the same room with the prescribing physician. That law is currently blocked by a court injunction.
Kansans for life, the state’s leading anti-abortion group, issued a statement hailing Walgreens’ decision and Kobach’s demands.
“Kansans for Life applauds Attorney General Kobach for swift action to clearly communicate his firm resolve to stand for the rule of law,” said Danielle Underwood, KFL Director of Communications. “We call on other pharmacies to also commit to protecting the health and safety of women who would be endangered by the lack of monitoring of these deadly chemicals.”
Trust Women, the abortion-rights group that helped lead the fight against the August amendment, said Kobach is overstepping.
“Mifepristone is a safe and effective method of abortion that has been approved by the FDA for over 20 years,” the group said in a statement. “The Attorney General is not a physician, yet still feels qualified to weigh in on matters that Kansans have continually insisted politicians leave to medical professionals — as recently as last August when voters rejected an anti-abortion constitutional amendment.”
The FDA released a statement outlining updates to the current access to abortion medication. The new ruling would allow for more retail pharmacies, like Walgreens, to provide drugs used in medication abortions.
Planned Parenthood launched telehealth medication abortion in December in an effort to expand access options in Kansas. The state’s only abortion-providing clinics are in Wichita and the Kansas City area.
