From the SFLA Blog

Here’s How SFLA Has Been Working to Stop Pharmacies from Selling Abortion Pills   

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Caroline Wharton - 07 Mar 2023

When the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced earlier this year that pharmacies could become certified to carry Chemical Abortion Pills and mainstream pharmacies announced their intentions to do so, the pro-life movement went into overdrive. We had one question on the mind: how do we effectively oppose and stop this? Students for Life of America (SFLA) has led the charge in confronting this issue — here’s what we’ve been up to recently:  

Protesting Pharmacies That Opted In  

On Valentine’s Day this year, SFLA went straight to the Walgreens Headquarters in Illinois to protest their decision to sell the life-ending pills, and we haven’t stopped there. SFLA recently held a National Day of Protest to Cancel Abortion Cartels at 46 different, local Walgreens, CVS, and Rite Aid pharmacies across the country. With around 500 – 600 participants, here’s what a couple protest leaders had to say:  

Richmond, Virginia protestors

Virgina’s Regional Coordinator Gavin Oxley said, “Our protest outside the CVS in Richmond, Virginia was a success with more than 25 present, many of which were local; some students driving more than two hours to participate. We strategically found a CVS located right beside a bus stop in order to draw attention from the people getting on and off of the buses, a strategy we found to be super beneficial with engaging the community.”  

Texas State University SFLA President Sarah Luna said that her group was grateful for the police when abortion supporters began to push them and steal their signs. When the police calmed the pro-abortion side down, Luna said, “There were some [abortion supporters] who were actually interested in having a conversation so I think it was productive in the end.”  

Texas State University SFLA students

Pacific Southwest Regional Coordinator Jordan Brittain endured the snow outside with her group in Flagstaff, Arizona for almost two hours, receiving some beautiful community support as well as pro-abortion hate.  

California Regional Coordinator Mary-Logan Miske’s two groups in San Diego and Sacramento had more than 30 different conversations about Chemical Abortion, despite inclement weather. Miske said, “Rain or shine, the Pro-Life Generation showed up in Sacramento to expose the extremism in California.”  

Northern Regional Coordinator Matt Murphy hosted a protest in Saint Paul, Minnesota at a Walgreens, and he said he was encouraged by the large protest which showed community support. Murphy said, “There was a lone pro-abortion protestor at the event who chanted a number of obscene slogans, including shouting “F*ck your baby” at a couple walking a stroller on the other side of the street, but event was a success, overall. Several attendees left saying that they would host similar rallies outside of the Walgreens pharmacies in their neighborhoods.”  

California protestors

Capitol Area Intern Claire Anderson said, “We rallied along Rockville Pike at a CVS with our signs and banner, and while we did have one pro-abortion man get in the face of one of my students, we also had many shows of support. Afterwards, we walked over to the FDA location nearest the CVS to let the them know that the Post-Roe Generation in Maryland does not approve of the FDA’s decision to allow pharmacies to dispense dangerous Chemical Abortion Pills.”  

Press Specialist and Online Editor Dana Stancavage said, “Our protest at CVS in Naples, Florida went well with pro-lifers joining us to stand in support. I was impressed by one young woman who drove over an hour, despite having a 17-month-old baby at home, to join us. We had many people honking as they drove by, and two women from the local Planned Parenthood came by to take photos of us and run away. When we tried to talk with them, they rushed to their car and drove off, still taking photos of us from their vehicle.” 

Florida protestors

Sending Coalition Letters & Working with AGs  

SFLA signed onto two different letters with other pro-life organizations to both the CEO of Walgreens, Rosalind Brewer, and the CEO of CVS, Karen Lynch — and Walgreen leadership actually responded, saying they had not yet begun to carry the pills and they would “keep our views in mind.”  

Discussions with pro-life Attorneys General (AGs) also led to nearly two dozen AGs sending a letter to Walgreens, threatening legal action under the Comstock Act if the life-ending pills were brought into their state. Once again, Walgreens heard the pro-life movement loud and clear, announcing publicly they would not dispense Chemical Abortion Pills in the pro-life AGs’ states. 

In yet another defense, SFLA General Counsel Zachary Kester told Politico SFLA and other pro-life organizations are “looking into using state and federal consumer protection laws, including the Deceptive Trade Practices Act some states have, to sue pharmacies that agree to fill prescriptions for the pills.”  

Our efforts, along with the rest of the pro-life movement, against the inclusion of Chemical Abortion Pills in local pharmacies, have even been heard by our very pro-abortion White House. The Biden Administration is calling our measures to protect women and the preborn “dangerous and just unacceptable,” but that’s music to our ears.  

If they’re opposing us, that means we’re doing something right, and you know what is truly “dangerous and just unacceptable?” Chemical Abortion Pills — which is why we’re not backing down.  

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