Walgreens's surrender to the GOP should light a fire under Democrats

[Nevilledog]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/03/07/walgreens-mifepristone-gop-attorneys-general-democrats-abortion/

No paywall
https://archive.is/HoIWf

Republicans are not shy these days about threatening state retribution against the private sector to force it to fall in line with their cultural agenda. But what happens when this threat is a largely empty one — yet private companies bow to GOP demands anyway?

Last week, Walgreens decided not to dispense the abortion pill mifepristone in 21 states. This came after GOP attorneys general tacitly threatened legal action against the pharmacy giant, even though it’s not remotely clear they have real grounds for any such threat. In essence, Republicans shouted, “Boo!” And Walgreens jumped.

Now some Senate Democrats say they will begin to escalate pressure on Walgreens from the other side: They are insisting Walgreens has no rationale for capitulating to GOP intimidation and are hinting at action of their own in response.

“Walgreens has to reverse its position,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) told me. “What they’ve done is absolutely unconscionable, succumbing to threats and bullying from attorneys general who have no legal basis for what they are doing.”

Blumenthal said Democrats should consider hearings if other big pharmacies such as CVS and Rite Aid — which haven’t said how they’ll proceed — follow Walgreens’s lead.

*snip*

[Brother Buzz]

1. California's governor is leading the charge and plans to hit them in the pocketbook

California will nix business with Walgreens over abortion pill stance, Newsom says

March 7, 2023, 10:44 AM PST
By Rose Horowitch
California will sever business ties with Walgreens after the pharmacy giant announced it would not distribute abortion pills in several states where abortion is legal, Gov. Gavin Newsom wrote Monday in a tweet.

“California won’t be doing business with @walgreens — or any company that cowers to the extremists and puts women’s lives at risk," Newsom wrote. "We’re done.”

A spokesperson for Newsom, Brandon Richards, said in a statement to NBC News that “California is reviewing all relationships between Walgreens and the state.”

Richards declined to clarify how California would cut ties with Walgreens and what the state’s current business with the pharmacy chain is.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/california-will-nix-business-walgreens-abortion-pill-stance-newsom-say-rcna73748


Gavin Newsom is playing hardball, and the Walgreens bean counters are shitting squiggly turds. :rof: