Boycott Walgreens, a Pharmacy that Stands with Anti-Abortion Extremists Against the Rights of Women
On Thursday, the country’s second largest pharmacy chain, Walgreens, caved in to threats from the extremist anti-abortion/Forced Birth movement and declared they will not dispense the legal, FDA-approved abortion pill Mifepristone in 21 states where Republican state attorneys general have promised to shut them down if they do so.
This decision by Walgreens to further cement women’s status as second-class citizens must be met forcefully by each and every one of us. Every day of our silence since last Thursday is another day of you and I enabling this bigotry and misogyny.
Please join with me and others in a NATIONWIDE BOYCOTT OF WALGREENS. They must reverse their decision immediately. They must acknowledge that nearly 70% of all Americans believe this legal prescription be made easily available to all women — and that the vast majority of Americans still support Roe v Wade.
The states where Walgreens has decided to back down and stand against women in need of safe medication to end an unplanned or unwanted pregnancy are:
Alabama
Alaska
Arkansas
Florida
Georgia
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
North Dakota
Ohio
Oklahoma
South Carolina
South Dakota
Texas
Utah
West Virginia
For the past 22 years, the majority of all abortions (55%) have not been performed at clinics or hospitals. They have occurred by the simple taking of two FDA-approved pills at home or at a doctor’s office.
On June 24th of last year, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a religious edict, pushed for decades by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and other right-wing Christian groups, to remove from women the control over their own bodies and force them to stay pregnant and give birth against their will. A legal whipping of women, a virtual strapping and holding them down until they are forced to allow the fetus to exit their body as a baby, whether they like it or not.
The Court, two-thirds of which are made up of baptized Catholics, issued a ruling not based on law or science but based in their own medieval beliefs and authoritarian religion which excludes all women from holding any position of power, ensuring that only men hold the vote in the Vatican because as they claim, that’s the way God has deemed it. For over two millennia this rabid patriarchy has brought great harm to women, successfully keeping billions on this planet “in their place.” The United States was founded as a secular country with a clear separation of “church and state” with no official state religion.
This Court’s actions have solidified their role as our Taliban, our Church of England, our Spanish Inquisition. We are now forced to fight our way out of this religious ruling where the majority gender in a democracy must shut the eff up and make that fertilized egg into a baby — or else.
The bishops HATE President Biden. He’s a seriously devout Catholic — but he practices his religion personally, privately, and never proselytizes or expects any American to sign up to his spiritual beliefs. And he has chosen to fight the patriarchy of his American version of the Church by ordering the approval of the easily accessible abortion pill to any woman who wants it. His Justice Department has approved it and approved the legality of mailing it. The FDA tested it for years and heartily approves it. They’ve decided it’s so safe, you no longer have to take it in front of a doctor. You can just pick it up at your local pharmacy! Why? Because it’s your right. It’s your body. No man can force you to have a baby.
Until now.
I’m going to include at the bottom of this Substack the threatening letters the states’ attorneys general sent to Walgreens, CVS, Rite Aid, Walmart, Costco and Kroger last month. Some of these nutcase Republicans (apologies for the redundancy) have even threatened to go after these pharmacies with the RICO (organized crime) laws!
They are basing their aggressive tactics on a 150-year-old law — The Comstock Act of 1873! — which outlawed sending through the mail “any obscene items” including anything to do with abortion or birth control. Yes, preventing pregnancy was considered “obscene!” Because anything that gives women even a smidgen of control in their lives was clearly obscene. It was illegal for them to own property, to have their own bank account, to get a loan — and, god forbid, to decide if they wanted to be pregnant or not! Obscene!!
Well, that’s the law these forced birth advocates are hoping the courts will adhere to. Which makes them the walking, breathing definition of obscenity.
And what are we going to do to stop them?
I ask you to please make your voice heard. Contact your local reproductive rights group, women’s group, or connect nationally — I’ve listed just a few of the many groups below — and join in. Let Walgreens know you have stopped shopping there. Let the other pharmaceutical chains know you’ll do the same to them if they follow Walgreens’ lead. Picket your local Walgreens. Tell the White House to stand strong, and let your members of Congress know this is one of your top issues in deciding how you will vote next year.
WE are the Majority.
Write to Walgreens, tell them why they've lost your business: ATTN: Consumer Relations Walgreen Co. 200 Wilmot Rd. MS #2002 Deerfield, IL 60015
Boycott. March. Picket. Civilly disobey. Write Postcards. Make Calls. Donate. BE RELENTLESS!
Call your Senator or Representative: (202) 224-3121
** In order to have a troll-free, hate-free comments section — and because if there’s one thing I know about my crazy haters, they would rather spend an eternity in hell with Marjorie Taylor Greene than send me $5 if forced to become a paid subscriber — my Comments section here on my Substack is limited to paid subscribers. But, not to worry — anyone can send me their comments, opinions and thoughts by writing to me at mike@michaelmoore.com. I read every one of them, though obviously I can’t respond to all. And every few weeks or so I share them publicly here on Substack and on my podcast so that your voice is heard by the multitudes in this wonderful community of readers and listeners. The solution here is not optimal but it has worked and my Comments section has become a great meeting place for people wanting to discuss the ideas and issues I raise here. There is debate and disagreement, but it is refreshing to have it done with respect and civility, unfettered by the stench of bigotry and Q-anon insanity.
The time has come to use the power of the purse. Why not boycott leisure travel in all these states until they reverse this demonstration of misogyny?
Done! I’m boycotting Florida too and hoping Disney moves their operations.