Abortion Industry to Walgreen’s: Tell Your Men They Work for Me Now

By Chris Gast, Right to Life of Michigan Education Coordinator

Walgreen’s is in deep trouble for not going all-in on abortion pills. Didn’t they see this coming?

On January 5, the pharmacy chain Walgreen’s (as if you needed an explanation of what they did, so ever-present in American life today) announced they would be providing abortion pills in their stores. Along with CVS and Rite-Aid, they are taking advantage of new rules engineered by the Biden Administration’s FDA to allow abortion pills to be distributed by pharmacies.

The motivation of the Biden Administration is clear: make abortion pills so prevalent that’s it’s nearly impossible to affect the supply. Their end goal is selling abortion pills over the counter with no prescription: get rid of many babies as possible, and make abortion a part of daily life to make it morally acceptable.

What about Walgreen’s motivation? Why enter the industry of death? Was it for the money? Maybe. Pharmacies are struggling with making money these days, squeezed between online retailers, pharmacy benefit managers, drug companies, and public pressure for cheaper drugs: every bit of extra revenue helps. But with Walgreen’s making nearly $132 billion in revenue in 2022, the abortion pill market is a small add-on. Even if every abortion in America was done with abortion pills at $500 a pop, the $500 million in revenue selling them is less than 1% of the revenue of one pharmacy chain.

No, it’s more likely the Biden Administration leaned on them. Between regulations and reimbursements from health care programs, the federal government has vast power and authority over pharmacies. Or perhaps a few of their corporate leaders are activists, feeling a burning desire to help assist abortion whenever possible.

Walgreen’s and others had to realize that by taking the side of the Abortion Industry, they would alienate prolife customers who don’t want to buy medicine from the same place they distribute poison to take the lives of innocent babies. But their leaders judged that the cost of angering Joe Biden or not helping the Abortion Industry was greater than lost business from prolife people. Maybe they thought prolife people had no choice, since larger pharmacy chains are squeezing locally-owned pharmacies out of business.

But clearly, they misjudged the moment. Right to Life of Michigan collected petition signatures and sent letters to Walgreen’s and others, telling them prolife people wouldn’t stand for this. Critically, attorneys general from prolife states informed them that selling abortion pills in their states was unacceptable, and in fact against federal law. These attorneys general said they would pursue legal action against Walgreen’s and others for following Biden’s illegal abortion pill mandate.

States have a lot of power over pharmacies as well. Pharmacies face giant risks by angering them. So, on March 3, Walgreen’s announced they wouldn’t sell these deadly drugs in those states with prolife attorneys general.

Pro-abortion states also know they have power. So, on March 6, California Governor Gavin Newsom employed his favorite political tactic in announcing his state government would be boycotting Walgreen’s. What does that mean exactly? It’s hard to say, other than Newsom has singled out Walgreen’s as an enemy of the state—quite literally.

If “enemy of the state” sounds dark, it’s because it is. But this is the new era we live in.

I’m reminded of a scene from the Batman movie The Dark Knight, where the main villain, the Joker, takes control of the city’s other criminal organizations with a simple threat: “tell your men they work for me now.” Once you sign on with the Abortion Industry, you can’t just leave it. You are either with them, or against them.

This new era of abortion activism was highlighted by our Governor Gretchen Whitmer telling Michigan business leaders before Proposal 3 that she found their lack of faith in abortion disturbing. Planned Parenthood embraced their corporate identity, and so now the entire Abortion Industry—truly a movement with its own pessimistic worldview—has gone corporate as well. The billionaires who donate gobs of money to run pro-abortion non-profits, pay for biased abortion research, and win legislation and election fights now want the corporations they invest in playing for the abortion team.

Let Walgreen’s be a lesson to us all. In the post-Roe v. Wade era where voters can decide, the Abortion Industry means to leave the voters with no choice.

There is no longer any avoiding the abortion issue. The Abortion Industry and their elected officials won’t let you sit in the middle, whether you are an average citizen or a mega-corporation like Walgreen’s with revenue in the hundreds of billions. You are either for taking babies’ lives, or you are an enemy of women. If you sign on to their team, you will never be allowed to leave it. Shy away even slightly from what they need you to do, and as Gavin Newsom said, “we’re done.”

Soon they won’t even let you harbor prolife thoughts in the privacy of your own mind without punishment. Across the pond, the British Government is persecuting a prolife person for silently praying about abortion in an “abortion zone.”

So, the question for prolife people is this: are you going to match their intensity? Because if not, the price of harboring any doubts about the righteousness of stabbing a baby in the head during the process of birth will mean you aren’t allowed to participate in polite society anymore, and certainly not operate a business in Gavin Newsom’s California.

And the takeaway for most Americans who find themselves uncomfortably stuck in the middle between Right to Life and Planned Parenthood is this: the other side is not going to be content with your lack of surety. You will be made to pay for abortions. You will be made to participate in abortions if you are even remotely connected to the healthcare industry and want to keep your job. And, eventually, you will be made to celebrate abortions.

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