Georgia Attorney General urges Walgreens, CVS to halt mailing of abortion pills

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr was one of 20 Attorneys General across the country who signed a letter in February to Walgreens and CVS Pharmacy leadership urging them to halt the mailing of abortion pill prescriptions.

“Following your company’s recent announcement that it plans to obtain and sell abortion pills using the mail, we write to advise you of the current law in this changing legal landscape,” wrote the Attorneys General.

On Thursday, Walgreens announced it was not distributing the drug mifepristone at its brick-and-mortar locations or through the mail in the 20 states represented by the Attorneys General who sent the complaint, according to a CBS News report.

The writers insist that federal law prohibits the mailing of abortion pills. They write the Biden Administration refutes this.

In a Jan. 22 press release, a White House spokesperson wrote, “some state officials have taken steps to try to prevent women from legally accessing medication abortion and to discourage pharmacies from becoming certified by the FDA. Today, President Biden will sign a Presidential Memorandum to further protect access to medication abortion.”

The Attorneys General challenged the Biden Administration in their letter to Walgreens and CVS Pharmacy leadership.

“In December, the Biden administration’s Office of Legal Counsel encouraged the U.S. Postal Service to disregard this plain text. But the text, not the Biden administration’s view, is what governs. And the Biden administration’s opinion fails to stand up even to the slightest amount of scrutiny.”

The issue of abortion pills is front and center in a federal lawsuit where a Texas judge could restrict access to the drug mifepristone, one of the primary drugs used for medication abortions.

In Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the plaintiffs are calling on the federal judge to remove the drug from the market.

Attorney General Carr was among a group of Attorneys General who signed a brief in support of the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine.

“President Biden is once again going beyond the law to impose his policy preferences on the country without congressional authorization,” according to a spokesperson for the Office of Attorney General Chris Carr.

The Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, a coalition of anti-abortion advocates, challenges the safety of mifepristone.

One Atlanta OBGYN said there are no safety concerns with mifepristone.

“There is no safety concern here. This is all politically motivated,” said Dr. Mimi Zieman, who recently served as the head of Family Planning at Emory University for ten years.

“What makes a judge with no healthcare background someone capable of overturning access to something the FDA, a scientific body has carefully studied,” challenged Zieman.

Zieman said that even if mifepristone is pulled from the market, there are still options for women seeking abortion care in Georgia.

“If they take mifepristone off the market, abortions will still be available and medication abortions will still be available. If will be available using different regiments, that are slightly less effective that cause more side effects, and therefore harm women more,” said Dr. Zieman.

She also stressed that in addition to the medical questions, the ongoing legal battles create confusion for women and medical professionals surrounding abortion care.

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