Newsom says California will cut ties with Walgreens over abortion pill access

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — In an attempt to counter GOP efforts to limit reproductive rights, Gov. Gavin Newsom said California will cut ties with Walgreens over the company’s decision to stop selling abortion medication in 20 Republican states.

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

Newsom’s missive is the latest political maneuver from the governor in the national battle between red and blue states over abortion rights since the Supreme Court overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade decision last summer.

Using the force of the California economy, Newsom is attempting to push back on the pressure GOP leaders are putting on retailers to cut off access to abortion medication in their states.

Attorneys general in 20 GOP-led states sent a letter to Walgreens and CVS last month threatening legal action if the retailers sold abortion pills by mail in their respective states. On Friday, Walgreens responded and said it would not sell the medication in those states.

[After attorney general’s letter, Walgreens won’t carry abortion medication in Alaska]

Newsom’s tweet, his spokesman said, was “a shot across the bow.”

“Companies seem to be caving to political pressure from right wing extremists and there are consequences for those decisions,” said Anthony York.

Shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc fell more than 1.6% Monday following Newsom’s announcement. The Illinois retailer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

How California might stop doing business with Walgreens and what impact such a move could have on Californians was not immediately clear. Newsom’s aides said his administration did not have any details on what cutting ties would entail and is only now reviewing all relationships between Walgreens and the state, including MediCal and Covered California contracts.

Advocates for Californians who receive state-sponsored health care said it was difficult to determine if the decision to sever ties with the retailer would affect patients given the lack of details.

Newsom has a tendency to seize on hot-button political issues and make attention-grabbing announcements before he has determined how the state will carry out his plan.

The governor declared his desire to pass a windfall profits penalty on oil companies last fall in response to record gasoline prices in California. He and lawmakers are still trying to figure out how to cap the industry’s profits in a special legislative session.