Filmmaker Michael Moore has called for a nationwide boycott of Walgreens after the pharmacy chain announced it would not sell abortion pills in 20 states.
In February, 20 Republican prosecutors general wrote to Walgreens threatening legal action if Walgreens provided the abortion pill mifepristone to consumers at their pharmacies in the US.
On Thursday, Walgreens shifted its plan, saying it will not provide mifepristone in their states, nor does it plan to ship the drug to consumers.
After the announcement, Moore, on his websiteurged readers to boycott Walgreens, characterizing them as a pharmacy chain that “sides with anti-abortion extremists against women’s rights.”
“This decision by Walgreens to further enhance the status of women as second-class citizens must be followed vigorously by all of us. Every day of our silence since last Thursday is another day where you and I enable this bigotry and misogyny,” Moore wrote. “Please join me and others in a WALGREENS NATIONAL BOYCOT. They must reverse their decision immediately.”
The boycott included photos of the letters sent by Attorneys General to Walgreens, as well as CVS, Rite Aid, Walmart, Costco, and Kroger. Moore claimed that their “aggressive tactics” were based on the Comstock Act of 1873, which banned the sending of “obscene items” through the mail.
“Yes, preventing pregnancy was considered ‘obscene!’ Because anything that gives women the slightest bit of control over their lives was clearly obscene,” Moore added. “It was illegal for them to own property, to have their own bank account, to get a loan — and, God forbid, to decide whether or not they wanted to be pregnant! Obscene!!”
Moore ended his boycott call by urging his audience to speak up and reach out to local reproductive rights groups.
“Let Walgreens know you don’t shop there anymore. Let the other pharmaceutical chains know that you will do the same to them if they follow Walgreens’ example. Picket your local Walgreens. Tell the White House to stand strong and let your members of Congress know that this is one of your most important issues in deciding how to vote next year,” Moore said.
Moore also slammed the Supreme Court for their decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, calling the ruling a “legal whipping of women” and claiming that the justices based their opinion on the “authoritarian religion” of Christianity.
“The actions of this Court 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 rule where the majority sex in a democracy must shut up and turn that fertilized egg into a baby – or else,” he said.
Concluding his boycott announcement, Moore added the mailing address for Walgreens consumer relations and added a phone number for people to contact their local representatives.
“Boycott. March. Picket. Civil Disobedience. Write Cards. Call. Donate. JOIN!” Moore added.
The drugstore chain reports this on Thursday access to mifepristone may not be expanded as widely as federal regulators intended in January when they finalized a rule change that allowed more pharmacies to dispense the pill.
However, Walgreens is working towards eligibility through the FDA’s certification process.
The company is not currently distributing the pills anywhere.
The Food and Drug Administration approved mifepristone in 2000 to terminate pregnancy when used in combination with a second drug, misoprostol. The combination is approved for use up to the 10th week of pregnancy.
Mifepristone is first taken to dilate the cervix and block a hormone needed to maintain a pregnancy. Misoprostol is taken a day or two later, causing contractions to empty the uterus.
Sarah Rumpf of FOX Business contributed to this report.
