The annual shareholder meeting of Walgreens Boots Alliance had some unannounced attendees yesterday (Jan. 26).
Protesters in the direction of abortion broke into the conference room in Newport Coast, California, to protest the pharmacy chain’s plan to begin out selling abortion capsules.
The U.S. Meals and Drug Administration (FDA) launched on Jan. 3 that any affected particular person with a recipe for mifepristone- the abortion pill used as a lot as 10 weeks of being pregnant – might get it from the native pharmacy. On January 4, every CVS and Walgreens talked about positive could be licensed to provide the medication the place abortion is allowed. Fifteen days later, Ceremony Help talked about so too would ship the medicines at a restricted number of pharmacies and by put up.
Permission had been given for an anti-abortion protest in a room exterior the developing the place the annual regular meeting (AGM) was held, nevertheless demonstrators found a strategy in. “Proper this second, correct after the closing of the official enterprise of our annual shareholder meeting, a small group of unauthorized protesters entered the conference room,” Walgreens senior director of exterior relations Fraser Engerman instructed Reuters. “We’re grateful that none of our shareholders, employees members and event staff have been injured on this incident.”
Anti-abortion groups are gearing up for a sequence of protests exterior the headquarters of drugstores and pharmacy chains, in a way similar to those that have plagued family planning clinics for a few years.
A non-exhaustive report of upcoming anti-abortion protests at Walgreens and CVS
February 4: Progressive Anti-Abortion Revolt says it ought to preserve nationwide protests at CVS and Walgreens locations in key cities all through the nation, along with Washington DC, San Francisco, Detroit, Austin, Los Angeles and New York Metropolis. “All registered hosts will receive a free activist pack containing a banner, literature and a megaphone,” it talked about in a Fb put up. As well as they requested people boycott the two retail chains until they reverse their selection to advertise abortion capsules.
February 14th: Faculty college students for Life, which claims to serve better than 1,300 pupil groups on highschool and college campuses, his kick-off protest could be holding “Cancel Abortion Cartels” at Walgreens headquarters in Deerfield, Illinois, to “demand that our pharmacies ‘refrain’ from selling dangerous chemical abortion capsules.” It is also launching letter-writing campaigns asking faculty college students to ship Valentine’s Day taking part in playing cards to CEOs asking them to “urge them to stop making abortion providers out of our pharmacies and distributing deadly chemical abortion capsules,” it talked about. it on his site.
4th of March: Faculty college students for Life has referred to as for a Nationwide Day of Protest at native pharmacies.
February 22 – April 2: 40 Days for Life, a world group protesting by prayer, fasting and group outreach, is organizing a variety of vigils.
Entry to abortion, in numbers
50: TThe number of “noisy demonstrators with indicators merely exterior the resort grounds” the place the Walgreens AGM was held yesterday (Jan. 26), based mostly on Walgreens shareholder and AGM buyer John Chevedden’s e-mail reply to Reuters
620,327: Abortions nationally in 2020 throughout the District of Columbia and 47 states, down 1.5% from the sooner yr, based mostly on the Amenities for Sickness Administration and Prevention (CDC)
53%: Share of being pregnant interruptions attributable to abortion capsules, based mostly on the CDC and sexual and reproductive nicely being evaluation and protection NGO Guttmacher Institute
1,603: U.S. providers that carried out abortions in 2020, along with 807 clinics, 530 hospitals, and 266 physician workplaces.
Higher than 18,000: Combined neighborhood of Walgreens and CVS outlets throughout the US
128%: Enhance in assaults in the direction of abortion clinic staff and victims in 2021 over the sooner yr, which can worsen if anti-abortion actions meet further steam
$495 million: Funding from at least 13 states has been funneled since 2010 to nonprofits commonly known as catastrophe being pregnant services that try and protect women away from abortions. Texas accounts for nearly all, with better than $200 million
One in ten: People who beforehand crossed state strains to have an abortion Roe in the direction of Wade was quashed – the stock has presumably risen since then
38%: American women ages 13 to 44 dwelling in a state with supportive abortion rights
Citable: Abortion Beneath Assault
“By making abortion approved all through the nation, Roe in the direction of Wade has had a dramatic affect on the nicely being and well-being of American women. Abortion-related deaths have plummeted and are literally a rarity (see chart). In addition to, women have been able to have abortions earlier in being pregnant when the method is most safe: the pace of abortions obtained early throughout the first trimester elevated from 20% in 1970 to 56% in 1998 (see chart). These public nicely being achievements may now be under extreme danger.” —Rachel Benson Gold, Guttmacher Institute
What’s subsequent for abortion rights throughout the US?
Sgiven that milestone 1973 Roe in the direction of Wade ruling that made abortion approved throughout the US was reversed last June, mHigher than a dozen states have enacted near-total bans on abortion.
For anti-abortion protesters, their focus shifted from approved to legislative for the first time in 50 years all through their annual “March for Life” earlier this month. They’ve increasingly more centered their consideration on proscribing entry to abortion capsules and fetal character, amongst totally different extreme pro-life measures.
Related Tales
🏛️ After Roe v Wade, anti-abortion activists fight for Capitol Hill
🗳️ Abortion rights obtained the US midterm elections
🌍 How US state abortion authorized pointers study globally
