March 15, 2023 - On Tuesday, California Governor Gavin Newsom, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, Maine Governor Janet Mills, Maryland Governor Wes Moore, Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, New York Governor Kathy Hochul, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper, Oregon Governor Tina Kotek, Washington Governor Jay Inslee, and Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers issued a letter to CVS, Rite-Aid, Walmart, Safeway, Kroger, Costco, and Health Mart thanking them for carefully considering how they can help expand access to medication abortion, and asking them to clarify their plans to distribute abortion medication and safeguard access to reproductive health care.
Recent media reports indicate that some major pharmacy retail companies, under political pressure, may be considering not dispensing critical abortion medication to millions of individuals, including in states where medication abortion, like Mifepristone, can be lawfully dispensed. In response, 14 Governors are calling on companies to disclose their plans for dispensing Mifepristone, as well as any other actions they plan to take to safeguard access to reproductive health care.
“As companies that dispense critical, life-saving medications, we urge that your decisions continue to be guided by well-established science and medical evidence and a commitment to the health and well-being of patients – not politics or litigation threats,” wrote the Governors, who are members of the Reproductive Freedom Alliance, a non-partisan coalition of governors committed to strengthening reproductive health care access.
“As you know, the FDA determined more than 20 years ago that Mifepristone is safe and effective, and as health care providers, we hope you will see this attempted interference in the private market for what it is: a threat to the rights of Americans to access basic health care,” urged the Governors.
The full letter can be viewed here: https://www.governor.state.nm.us/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Governor-Letter-to-Pharmacy-Retail-Companies__3.14.23.docx.pdf.
Source: Office of the Governor
