Thread by @JuddLegum

1. @Walgreens has delivered a major victory to the anti-aboriton movement, refusing to dispense abortion pills in 10 states WHERE ABORTION IS LEGAL.

This is part of pattern of support for anti-abortion officials by @Walgreens, including significant financial contributions

@Walgreens 2. In 2019, the Kansas Supreme Court found the state constitution protected abortion rights

So anti-abortion forces proposed a constitutional amendment 2 allow the state to ban abortion

IT WAS DEFEATED BY A 60-40 VOTE

Now @Walgreens refuses to dispense abortion pills in Kansas

@Walgreens 3. @Walgreens' decision comes in response to a threatening letter from 20 Republican attorneys general, including @KrisKobach1787, the Kansas AG

The letter, signed by Kobach and the other GOP AGs, provides NO JUSTIFICATION for Walgreens' decision

popular.info/p/how-walgreen…

@Walgreens @KrisKobach1787 4. Most of the letter is a discussion of the Comstock Act, an 1873 law that has been ignored or limited by federal courts for decades.

The Comstock Act "made it illegal to send 'obscene, lewd or lascivious,' 'immoral,' or 'indecent' publications through the mail."

@Walgreens @KrisKobach1787 5. It is named after Anthony Comstock who was the "head of the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice." Comstock famously arrested Ezra Heywood for mailing a copy of "Cupid’s Yokes, in which [Heywood] asserted that women should have the right to control their own bodies"

@Walgreens @KrisKobach1787 6. The Comstock Act also purports to make it illegal to "mail" a drug that "is advertised or described in a manner calculated to lead another to use or apply it for producing abortion."

@Walgreens @KrisKobach1787 7. In December 2022, the Department of Justice issued an opinion concluding the Comstock Act "does not prohibit the mailing of certain drugs that can be used to perform abortions where the sender lacks the intent that the recipient of the drugs will use them unlawfully."

@Walgreens @KrisKobach1787 8. But even if the interpretation of the Comstock Act by the GOP attorneys general was correct, it wouldn't prohibit Walgreens from distributing abortion pills.

Walgreens' has its own distribution network. It doesn't stock its pharmacies via USPS

popular.info/p/how-walgreen…

@Walgreens @KrisKobach1787 9. Anti-abortion groups sent a similar letter to @Walgreens, warning that if it dispensed abortion pills it will be dragged "into a legal thicket with potential criminal legal consequences."

10. These threats appear to have worked. Walgreens now says there is "complexity and flux" around the law in Kansas and 9 states represented by Republican attorneys general where abortion remains legal

Alaska, Florida, Iowa, Montana, Indiana, Ohio, N Dakota, S Carolina, & Utah

11. Quick pause to remind you that you shouldn't rely on an algorithm controlled by a right-wing billionaire to get info like this

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12. All 20 signatories of the letter to Walgreens are members of the Republican Attorneys General Association (@RepublicanAGs).

In June 2022, RAGA sent a fundraising solicitation pledging that future donations would be used to undermine abortion rights across the country

@RepublicanAGs 13. A few months later, on October 4, 2022, @Walgreens donated $25,000 to @RepublicanAGs, according to IRS records reviewed by Popular Information.

Since 2020, Walgreens has donated $80,030 to @RepublicanAGs

popular.info/p/how-walgreen…

14. During the last election cycle, @Walgreens also donated $123,500 to 39 members of Congress who received a failing grade (25% or lower) in the latest scorecard from @NARAL

popular.info/p/how-walgreen…

@Walgreens @NARAL 15. Remind me again how corporations have gone "woke"

UPDATE: California will no longer do business with @Walgreens, according to the Governor

https://twitter.com/gavinnewsom/status/1632811406344192000

UPDATE: @Walgreens is now blocking people from replying to its tweets