>> The nation's second largest
pharmacy chain said today it
will not dispense abortion pills
in several states where the drug
remains legal.
The decision comes after nearly
two dozen Republican attorneys
general wrote to the company
threatening legal action.
Senior correspondent for Kaiser
health news joins us now.
I want to show folks the state
we are talking about.
21 attorneys general from these
states have threatened that
legal action.
In many of them were abortion --
abortion is already legal or
restricted.
Walgreens could steeply dispense
-- could still legally dispense
those pills, they still won't.
>> The biggest impact is to show
that these legal threats work.
Right now abortion medication is
not available in these
pharmacies.
You have to get it from a
clinician who has a specific
registration with the government
or you can get it via some
telehealth pharmacies.
It will change nothing on the
ground in this moment, but the
idea was to allow the dispensing
of mifepristone in these
pharmacies and communities so
they were more accessible to
women and what is typically a
very time sensitive situation.
>> So if you live in one of
those states and you are seeking
abortion care, what will be your
options?
>> Depending on the telehealth
restrictions in your state, you
could do an appointment with
someone outside of the state,
you could order from an online
pharmacy, you could order it
from eight access, an
organization based in Austria
that has been sending
mifepristone into the united
States regardless of the
legality.
>> Those same Republican
attorneys general have written
to other pharmacies demanding
that they also refused to
dispense the medication.
Do we know if they will?
>> Friday said they would
continue -- rated said they
would continue to monitor the
developments and evaluate are
not the company is able to
dispense mifepristone.
>> If any pharmacies decide to
take similar action, what does
that say to you about access?
>> These attorneys general are
very aggressively antiabortion
attorneys general.
In Alabama they made the
suggestion that if they couldn't
prosecute women who had
abortions for homicide that they
might use the states chemical
endangerment law to bring
charges against women.
These attorneys general are
getting very creative in trying
to figure out how to stop access
to abortion in clinics, stop the
flow of pills into their state.
They haven't gone as far as to
say we need to be searching the
mail, they do say under a
different type of department of
justice, the doj would have a
different reading of the
Comstock act, a law from the
1800s that is an anti-obscenity
law that prevents the mailing of
abortion drugs through the mail.
The says that's no longer
applicable.
But in their letter, they say
that under a different type of
department of justice there
would be a different reading of
that application.
>> I know you have been
reporting on this potential
federal judge ruling in Texas as
well.
When you talk to advocates for
abortion rights, what are they
telling you about this moment?
>> They are very concerned.
This judge in Amarillo Texas is
a devout antiabortion activist
and I think they are very
concerned that if he were to
rule in favor of this Christian
legal organization that
mifepristone would disappear off
the market in every state in the
country.