Walgreens responds to boycott:
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Walgreens openly denied me Plan B in 2020 because the pharmacist didn’t agree with dispensing it, “especially on a Sunday.” I am a 40-year-old married woman, not a kid, not that it matters. Walgreens has always been this way and they’re gleeful they can be more open about it now. Don’t fall for it.
I have never been so aggressively carded as when I bought Plan B. I was about 30 at the time.
There is NO age limit for buying plan B. Not since 2013.
This was in early 2012.
That is appalling.
And I was in a rush, since I was bumping up against the 72 hour window. it was the only 24 hour pharmacy in the area, already a 30 minute drive away.
What a horrible situation. I hope it all worked out for you.
Same hat! And then I called my gyno to ask about how to use it or if it would even help and they told me they wouldn’t give advice on a medicine that “could cause me to abort a baby.”
I was around 27 with visible body mods and tattoos that you can’t get in my state without being over 18. And a disease that would have put my life in legitimate danger if I had ended up pregnant.
Oh gosh I’ve gotten it a few times in the past where bc failed and I was already feeling bad myself just cause it happened, I can’t imagine having them be so unprofessional they would even think they’re in the right commenting about it and actually doing it and having to explain myself? Do they say something when kids try to buy condoms? It’s so fucked upppp mind your own biz….
The fact that she makes it her personal business and not her JOB is so disgusting. I would never think to let my personal biases affect my work that blatantly. Just sell me the pill and fuck off.
Yeah. Where does it end? “I’m not filling your insulin prescription because you should have eaten better” ??
"...and it's SUNDAY for crying out loud"
NO NEEDLE DRUGS ON THE LORD’S DAY, EVEN INSULIN
Fr. Like there are jobs I wouldn’t be able to avoid having personal biases against (military being the obvious one), but that’s why I don’t apply for/take those jobs. If you don’t wanna fill a script, don’t be a pharmacist.
The behavior is clearly encouraged all the way up the chain. Companies have cultures, and those cultures can be toxic in every which way.
Can't tell you how many times my daughter scheduled her Adderall prescriptions, getting told it would be ready and complete, only to show up to half or less of her prescription, if any at all. This was a few years ago when there was still a decent supply. Changed pharmacies, and the problems went away.
The fact that she/he doesn’t have a basic understanding of how it works is disgusting. I really don’t want someone who couldn’t pass 5 grade health class at all involved in my care.
I would've clapped back with "and you're working on Sunday?"
Rules for thee, not for me!
Death penalty!
Shit. Is three years too late for me to go back and say that?!
I’m a very ill person with a complicated medical condition with a team of specialized doctors and surgeons that I see on a weekly basis.
Walgreens made my life a living hell every month for 2 years trying to get my medications filled. The pharmacist decided I didn’t need the pain medication prescribed to me, and would put random holds, lose e-scripts, lie about insurance and authorization requests, just literally an issue every month.
I finally switched to a mom and pop and it’s night and day. The first month I came home with my scripts and sat down and cried because it was so easy. The last thing I need on top of my bullshit medical issues is judgement from the pharmacist. So this pharmacist thought she knew better than my team of doctors about what was the proper protocol for treatments, therapies, and medications for me and my condition.
Anyway, when I switched I also got a few family members to switch as well. Walgreens lost thousands of dollars a month in guaranteed income for repeating scripts. I wrote a lengthy email detailing my experience and you know what? I never even got a response.
I’m old enough to remember the glee everyone felt watching Blockbuster fail. It’s become romanticized recently, but Blockbuster was a terrible fucking company that treated their customers like shit. I’m sitting here hopeful that the same thing will happen to Walgreens. And tons of other mega corporations that have gotten too big to care about customers anymore.
OMG, I have chronic health issues and pain(I'm also a younger person so I always get the "you don't look sick/you're too young to be in pain" thing) and had CONSTANT issues with my pain medications at Walgreens. It was a NIGHTMARE.
Plan B is like a higer dose of hormonal BC intended to delay/stop ovulation. I wonder if that pharmacist knew that or if she took issue with giving anyone hormonal contraceptives. Pretty scary either way.
Sure - I’m not interested in the differentiation once the “because it’s Sunday” came into play. Asserting a personal opinion over someone’s right to healthcare is fucked up.
Of course. I guess I was just appalled at the lack of medical knowledge from a professional, but that really shouldn't be a surprise.
I will try to emulate your kindness in assuming it was a lack of knowledge instead of open defiance!
It's amazing how an employer will make allowances for an employee not doing their job as soon as they say Jayzus.
A Walgreens cashier refused to sell condoms to a customer, and Walgreens backed them. The issue is 100% with people having sex.
Big time. And now they don’t even have to hide it anymore.
That doesn’t even make sense unless they were behind glass. I would just rip the package open. What are they going to do, throw it away? Put it back?
One time I went to buy a plan b at Walgreens and the pregnant cashier looked at me up and down all ugly. I proceeded to look down at her belly in the same manner like “don’t want to end up like you…duh” people really need to mind their own business
They tried to deny me misoprostol. Ended up delaying my miscarriage almost a week because they wanted to hear firsthand what is was for. A doctor prescribed it, you don't need to know anything else. 100% they will do this with Mifepristone. My experience proves their system has a flag in place for these drugs.
Did they think people only buy Plan B on the day they have sex?
Everything about it was profoundly stupid, but I was so stunned I couldn’t muster up the resolve to say “Hey, I’m ill in a way that any pregnancy would result in malformation and a brutal miscarriage, so how about you help me prevent that before it starts, you absolute horse’s ass?”
Goodness I’m so sorry.
It’s like if a waiter won’t serve you a ham sandwich because they don’t eat pork. It’s ridiculous
Frankly Sunday is probably a pretty common time to need morning after pills. Considering sunday morning is the morning after Saturday night.
If they don't want to sell this stuff on Sunday because of their religion they shouldn't be working on Sunday at all they should be in church praying.
Holy shit that is outrageous. Only in America
I mean, thats a blatant lie. They allow their pharmacists to claim a bs belief and wont administer in states where its banned.
The issue is that it's not banned any where currently. They just put the cart before the horse thinking that it would somehow benefit them by announcing that.
I read it is because Republican attorney generals are threatening to sue them and it scared them, now Dems are responding right back.
Edit: As u/TeamHope4 notes in the reply, Republican AGs threatened all pharmacies and Walgreens is the one to cave and that’s why they are being boycotted.
You're right it's because of the letter the AG's sent threatening them with lawsuits. The AG's sent that letter to ALL the pharmacies, though, and Walgreens is the only one that preemptively decided to cave to threats of meritless and frivolous lawsuits.
That's why there needs to be a total boycott of Walgreens NOW, to deter the other pharmacies from following their lead. If you have to get your meds there because of insurance or whatever, do what you have to to take care of yourself, but don't buy a single other thing from Walgreens, not even a candy bar.
Thanks for the added input, didn’t know that.
Well if it was actually banned they I don’t think refusing to give people banned meds is going to upset many people. The issue is that it’s not banned at all.
Lol they only came out with this because their stock tanked today
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I was getting ready to switch, they kinda suck anyway still might
You still should... Walgreens is officially guilty of the largest wage theft in American history... They're bagged ass. Get your prescriptions from whatever grocery store you go to
Ok get this. My local WG no longer stocks medications. They get shipped from a bigger city every day. Long story short its pretty common to show up and my meds not all be there "Come back tomorrow" despite receiving confirmation it has arrived like no I will come back when I can like next week.
If Trader Joe's had a pharmacy I would.
Don’t believe this - I don’t think they mean it, they will reverse course as soon as people and states let off them.
I'm also wondering what they will use as the definition of 'legal'. The AG being opposed to it is very different from an actual law against it. That gives them a lot of weasel room. And none of it will matter if the pharmacists refuse to dispense it.
It’s in 4th largest now as of last year if I remember correctly
This response was inevitable I feel bad for the PR team that has to try and salvage this trash fire
Walgreens has been making a lot of mistakes for a lot of years, CVS has been out pacing them in a lot of areas, example is CVS bought caremark (a mail order pharmacy) and gives more ways to get your meds, they have minute clinics in some locations, my insurance has a contract with CVS for maintenance meds at a big difference in my co-ins part. My CVS will bill my insurance for vaccines where Walgreens will not except for flu. Walgreens in California is being hit hard with shoplifting gangs but CVS is not getting hit as hard. I feel back for them really cause they used to be great. Now CVS has been my go to pharmacy for awhile.
I am in California and thinking about transferring my prescriptions from Walgreens to CVS. It’s important that I get it right because I have cancer and a lot of important prescriptions.
Let CVS know why you are leaving Walgreens so they are not tempted to do what Walgreens is doing. If enough people do this businesses will realize that there is a very real cost to their bottom line to supporting a political party that injects chaos into their business. Republicans turning everything into a culture war means that businesses will have to choose which HALF of the country they are going to serve instead of having their products available to everyone.
I hope you’re able to transfer everything over and I’m sorry that you are put in the position of having to go to this trouble.
That's rough, sorry to hear. Call CVS with a list of your meds, ask them if there is any back orders for any of your meds, when I had trouble getting one of my diabetes meds, CVS was able to get it back in stock in about 3 days. Didn't need it for 2 more days but I've never gone without, CVS was helpful. If you decide to do CVS, do it mid prescription, like weeks before you need it. They will hold it if you ask or put it in for a future fill. Maybe do one med at a time, see how it goes. This so sucks for you, I'm sorry.
If you have complex medication needs, I’d suggest using your hospital pharmacy. My mother recently went through cancer treatment, and we had issues getting controlled meds filled due to the frequent changes the pain management docs made, plus the adderall shortage, plus the combinations of meds at doses not meant for the typical human. The oncologist switched everything over to the hospital pharmacy and we never had a single problem after that.
If I had a CVS locally, or any other pharmacy locally other than Walgreens, I would have already transferred my prescriptions. A few years back, our local independent pharmacy was bought when the owner retired, with the stipulation to not sell to a chain pharmacy. A year later, the new owners were in such bad debt and getting a divorce, and Walgreens bought out the client list. There was no local alternative other than driving a half hour or more to get meds elsewhere.
We've had so many problems with our local Walgreens that the only reason I haven't transferred to anything else is because of the lack of competition here. And if I only had a few medications I could do it, but given that I'm on dialysis and picking up meds at times three times a week, and am there weekly, it's a hardship to have to travel out of town for anything more than I have to. To make matters worse, the area management for Walgreens has drastically cut work hours for its workers and pushed out quality and experienced pharmacists here in the name of profit.
In other words, if you have the ability, transfer your meds to CVS.
Edit: I have a long list of problems from dealing with our local Walgreens, including:
Taking 24 days to fill a 30 day prescription for blood pressure meds. As a dialysis patient, these are critical to prevent me from having a stroke or bleeding out at dialysis. I went two weeks without because of that. And while dialysis has their own pharmacy, I've been told by dialysis staff that it's just as bad.
Regularly out of blood pressure medications.
Randomly closes the pharmacy a various days of the week, without prior notice. So if that one day was the day you needed to pick up medications, you're out of luck. They have a sign up pointing to the nearest 24 hour pharmacy, but if you have a medication with a prior authorization, going to the other pharmacy restarts the prior authorization process.
Changing how vaccinations are prescribed. I used to get all my vaccines there until they changed to a pharmacist prescriber. My insurance does not allow a pharmacist to prescribe. It took a few days of phone calls to finally find someone in the region (yes, region) to let me get a Covid shot. Same now for flu shots. Prior to this, the local doctors sent people there for all vaccinations.
Losing my insurance card, calling me lazy, and then blaming me for it, more than once. Usually someone would find it there later that day, usually in the garbage.
Better yet, transfer to your small, locally owned pharmacy! They still exist!
I used Walgreens pharmacy for 2 decades. 2 years ago, Insurance didn’t renew Walgreens contract so I was forced to CVS. When it first switched, it was horrible for the first 6-8 months. Some examples -you place RXs on auto refill. Let’s say you run out of refills. CVS doesn’t allow you (at least not through app) to have them contact doc for new RX until the same day meds should be picked up. This is an issue with my asthma inhalers. By the refill date, I need the next one. -if you need to call CVS, good luck, it’s a minimum 30 min hold. -if you go in to pick up meds, stand in pick up line. Let’s say insurance price is wrong. You go stand at a different window to get that fixed. Then you get to go stand back in line for pick up. It’s all divided and one thing is done at this window, the other at another window. A crap ton of waiting.
-there were lots of other issues for 6-8 months. I’m now on year 2 and it’s better. But at first, I wanted to cry every time I had to deal with a RX.
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Oh cool. "We stoked racist right wing talking points, oops sorry"
Why am I not surprised that they freaking lied? Thx for the article.
Huh.
Didn’t Walgreens partner with Theranos too? That in itself should have ended them for not doing due diligence.
CVS Caremark is also a pharmacy benefit manager contributing to the high costs of pharmaceuticals.
When my employer’s plan switched to them, we lost the ability to get mail order prescriptions filled. We had to get 90 day supplies at a local pharmacy with no cost savings. A year later, they introduced it as a new benefit. We used to have it, they took it away, and then announced it as a great new money-saving benefit.
Also, every year, they require prior authorizations on existing prescriptions they had received prior authorizations for.
And they routinely medications non-formulary favoring more expensive versions. For example, generic humalog, manufactured by the same company, is non-formulary in favor of the more expensive branded version.
Those gangs are not putting any sort of dent in their overall profits cmon now
Actually this article says mostly the same thing, and it came out on Saturday. That statement doesn’t mention the four states that they said they weren’t giving it out because of “legal challenges”, meaning the court has not decided whether it will be allowed or not. I wonder if that did change or this just reiterates what they said before?
Edit: I forgot the link. Oops.
https://abc7chicago.com/walgreens-not-selling-abortion-pills-medication-mifepristone-jb-pritzker/12912794/
"Once we are certified by the FDA?" What does that mean? Have they not been authorized to dispense medications and controlled substances already?
As other have stated, the FDA has a risk evaluation and mitigation strategy (REMS) for mifepristone, so you have to obtain a special certification to dispense this particular drug. but the certification requirements are just a bit of administrative hassle, nothing particularly crazy. It's also dumb of the FDA to require this because mifeprex has been fDA approved for 20 years, we've seen the risks of the drug and as long as the person has been evaluated properly (for ectopic pregnancy and other higher risk conditions), it's a pretty low risk drug. The FDA are trying to remove some requirements on its dispensation thoguh, they just formally removed the in-person dispensing requirement so people can receive mifepristone in the mail.
Oh yea they have been certified. They paid a huge fine over opiates. 5.7 billion over 15 years. Paying it to settle lawsuits for opiate sales.
Yeah, I remember that, I believe it was in '06, a news story about a bunch of Walgreens getting busted for filling too many oxycodone prescriptions.
What's this "certified" business about? Is it related to their Oxy woes?
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I haven't been able to find the certification form but it doesn't sound like the requirements for certification are particularly stringent from looking at the FDA website, especially when Walgreens already distributes plenty of drugs far more dangerous than mifepristone. It seems like an intentional decision not to pursue certification until they got negative press and now they're acting as though they've been working on it all along.
This is inaccurate. The threatening letter from the 20 states that stopped them was specifically regarding mail order medication. The certification in question is about mail order certification . Walgreens pulled in store medications as well as mail order and are now claiming it as the waiting on the same thing, and it's just not true.
But they will definitely still let pharmacists pretending that their religion actually prevents them from dispensing it play with people's lives.
It’s crazy that any business would consider this a legitimate excuse to not do your job. Can you imagine a McDonald’s worker refusing to take the order of someone they knew to be divorced because “they have a sincere religious objection” to divorce? Sadly, this is what we need to do to fight back— malicious compliance; become unmanageable. Seriously, if you’re a pharmacist and you see a coworker refuse to provide this medication or a contraceptive to a customer, start asking customers if they are divorced or find other BS legit reasons not to serve them until your employer decides it’s not convenient to the success of their business to accommodate everyone’s delicate personal beliefs. If you get fired sue your employer for discriminating against your ‘sincerely held religious beliefs’ or for only selectively accommodating them for some workers and not others. The right looks for these types of opportunities for lawsuits and exploits them to force their beliefs on the rest of us and we need to fight fire with fire. Make businesses not want to support and donate to Republicans who are introducing chaos into their business model.
Imagine if a Muslim worker refused to serve anything he thought was haram. Just imagine how quickly the white supremacist mob would descend upon him and tell him to 'go back to his country'
Or if Jews refused to serve people cheese burgers.
"Excuse me, have you ever made a PB&J sandwich, using the same knife in both the peanut butter jar and the jelly jar?"
Such people certainly don’t deserve medication.
Such people deserve medication only because they are obviously insane
Bro are you using two knives for a PB&J? Just clean the one.
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Im sorry, I’m a vegetarian, so your BigMac has no burger on it.
Imagine a McDonald’s where the vegan employees will only allow you to have salads and fries.
That would make me way less angry because they’re not fucking with anyone’s lives.
Christians are mentally handicapped, they shouldn’t be trusted with science anyway since they don’t believe in it.
Not important to your point, but the fries have beef tallow and aren't even vegetarian.
I can’t imagine what other reason a pharmacist would have to deny someone their medication besides religious zeal
Edit: Apologies to the pharmacists, I didn’t realize how much work y’all do to make sure your patients have their proper meds
It is against my religious beliefs to do the job I applied for.
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I want this to become a thing so badly. In retrospect, I would have to quit every job I’ve ever had.
If they have religious reasons for not handing out medication, they should look for a different form of employment. End of story.
Like that city clerk and marriage licenses
Kim Davis of Kentucky.
That was 2015 and she just got ruled against in court in 2022
It’s not what you think. As a triple divorcée she was just trying to protect gay couples from the same struggles. Probably. Because how could you claim to defend the sanctity of an institution that you treat as disposable? That would be crazy.
Had a clinical student in our program object to treating gay patients out of principle. He was told that you need to be able to separate your personal feelings towards the patient and that it was a violation of our professional ethics especially since in rural areas, alternatives likely wouldn't be available, leading to an absence of care.
The dude left the program and went on to spend the next few years that I noticed on social media pretending to be some sort of victim of the system, all because he couldn't be a bigot when dawning his lab coat.
Lmao you'd hope someone with medical aspirations could at least be aware of something as simple as the Hippocratic oath, or more specifically, that it's not up to him to deny help, if it is within his power to do so
Also not to be pedantic, sorry; you misspelt 'donning' as 'dawning'
I don’t understand why that guy was so hate filled. If I was a doctor, I’d treat anyone who needed it, except for possibly a pedo. There’s a reason for malpractice insurance
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Sure, the problem is these extremists consider your post-mortem safety more important than you pre-mortem safety, and are more than happy to ruin your life to "save" your afterlife.
It’s like a vegan cashier refusing to checkout someone who is buying animal products. A cashiers job is to scan and price customers products that they’re buying just like how a pharmacists job is to give customers their prescription.
God, I never thought of that... refusing to scan groceries that run against my just-now-adopted Hindu beliefs
Right? Can you imagine? "I don't believe in mental illness. No meds for you."
This would be a great thing for vegans to do actually. Let's see if the law only protects Christians or if other sincerely held beliefs are on the same level. And then I can tell the IRS how Satan does not want me to pay taxes.
Yea, their job is to do the task, not choose who to do the task for
Separation of church and stated prescriptions.
Or not be allowed to be the only pharmacist on duty.
Or realize that their religious beliefs are theirs for them to follow.
And at that point they shouldn't be a public pharmacist, they should go to a pharmacy where it's expected that certain medications aren't filled out.
Imagine having to sync your medication pick ups with Walgreens staff schedule. If you are working at a public pharmacy and you are religious, you're going to have to be ok with selling and filling out legal doses of legal medications
"Hiiieee! Welcome to Mother Mary Pharmacy of Glory! How many thoughts and prayers are you picking up today?"
"No thoughts, three prayers, and my oxy refill. Praise Jebus."
pie steer friendly narrow test homeless six combative birds adjoining
This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact
Along with that, politicians should stop dispensing medical policy.
Make a public stink and pull your prescriptions from Walgreens if this happens to you. I know it’s not an option for everyone, especially if you live in a rural area, but if you have options let Walgreens know that you will be getting your prescriptions filled at another pharmacy from now on and that they’ve lost your business for any other purchases as well.
One of the many reasons I love mark Cuban’s pharmacy.
Yes. Video it and post it on social media. Tag Walgreens. Publicly shame them for hurting American citizens. Mention boycott as much as possible.
I moved mine to CVS yesterday.
I would just add: please don’t be rude to the pharmacy staff. It’s wasn’t the $16/hour pharmacy tech being overworked to the bone that made the call, or the pharmacy manager that has to staff drive thru/pickup/production/verification stations with 2 people including themselves because corporate just cut their hours again! - that decided on this policy. It’s the corporate execs that have never worked at a walgreens, that decide this. Making pharmacy staff’s day even shittier than the extremely shitty conditions they’re already under, isn’t fair and solves nothing. Bring your concerns to the people responsible and able to change these conditions!
I work at Starbucks. But I am a divot Mormon. So if anyone orders coffee or caffeine, I ignore the order or replace it with a non sinful drink.
Forcing others to adhere to my religion is my religious right!
Divot Mormons only hang out on the fairways of golf courses, right?
And definitely not to be confused with the seventh hole adventists.
I am literally laughing out loud (not just exhaling through my nose while smiling).
It’s proper to replace your divot. Thank you.
Devout Mormon
Devout marmot.
I know a guy going to a baptist college for pharmacy tech. He said they spent 4 weeks on how to deny people medication due to religious beliefs and the laws surrounding it. Absolutely disgusting.
That should be reportable to the authority that certifies/accredits the education there.
That fight is 45 years old. 🕯✌
reminds me of an ex who went to business management school during the pandemic & would sit in the living room thru lecture after lecture of how to union bust & suppress wages. it was wild, i described it as a soul extraction machine
i remember seeing a test ask "your employees all bring in big sales, mark all the appropriate ways to reward them" & the options were, applebees gift card, pizza party, ice cream, wage increase. mark all but the last one & get a point. i couldn't believe my fucking eyes
I had to drive 9 hours each way for a required company training. They reimbursed me by giving me one of those gas station reward point cards. You know, the ones you can get for free lol
Their motto should be a variation on something positive. A happy “Need medication? Try us!” Tweaked to “need medication? Just try us, we dare you.”
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Deciding not to dispense medications and correcting how they are prescribed is a major part of what a pharmacist does, it’s just that religion shouldn’t play a factor. They aren’t just a depot for whatever the prescriber wants.
e.g. allergies, drug interactions, ineffective or outdated therapy, wrong dose for the indication, cheaper alternatives for patients who can’t afford prescription, pregnancy (in a fetal toxicity sense) etc. etc. etc.
Oh, of course. They do this in smaller, pettier ways, too.
My friend grew up in a small town, where everyone knows everyone else's business. Well. She has ADHD. She got prescribed medication for it. She even did a piss test and agreed to do monthly piss tests, which insure that the drug isn't being sold by the person receiving the prescription (if it's detected in your urine, you're obviously taking it as intended, is the idea, whereas if it isn't, but you're always refilling your subscriptions...well).
Because everyone knows that her mother has struggled with substance abuse in the past - and who, for the record, has turned her life allllllllll the way around, like it made me cry in the car after seeing her mom for the first time in years, I'm so proud of her - the pharmacist at her local pharmacy decided not to fill her prescription. She even told her, explicitly, that was why. When my friend called corporate to complain, they told her that their pharmacists can deny a prescription for any reason they want.
So if she wants her medicine, she has to drive further to get it. She has two small children and her husband works most of the day with their one (1) family car. How the fuck is that okay????? And she lives pretty far in the sticks, so I don't think delivery is even an option for her. They didn't get curbside pickup at their grocery stores until like. Last year.
Someone in the medical industry that puts his faith before what he is a profesional for sounds like an oxymoron.
This. Pharmacies need to be required to have someone on staff at all times who will fill any prescriptions. If someone refuses because reasons then you'd better have a second person on staff who can fill it.
It’s a bit like the Conservative Party here in Canada where the leader says he would never EVER propose a bill to make abortions illegal! But… if one of the relatively unknown back-bencher proposes a bill… “I can’t infringe on their liberty to do so”….
Walgreens PR damage control is not working. Already some pharmacists are not filling prescriptions because the medicine goes against their religious beliefs.
I would hate to be in a life or death situation and the pharmacist decides whether I live or die.
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Yep I'm already fucked if they don't give me what I need, might as well make them realize that I don't give a shit about their religion they aren't the one taking it.
For the pharmacist… and rightfully so.
BOYCOTT STILL IN EFFECT REGARDLESS OF PANDERING TWEET
This is the way.
That was quick. The plan previously publicized was to not provide these medications even where it is legal is they have a Republican governor.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/walgreens-will-not-sell-abortion-pills-20-gop-states-rcna73237
This is a new position. They just don’t want to be accept that their position did change due to boycotts.
It’s the basics of doublethink. “We would never!” When called out for it… “We always planned to.” It preys on people forgetting or not being properly informed. Also admitting boycotts work terrifies corporations. It’ll legitimize the power the consumers actually have.
I'm not certain it's new because of the "Once we are certified by the FDA" language there at the beginning of the second paragraph. What does it mean? They're a pharmacy already licensed/certified and giving people their Rxs every day, and Mifepristone is legal and approved by the FDA, so what is this special certification that they don't already have but needed to dispense that drug? Why hasn't it been an issue for any other major chains?
Edit: So the certification is to dispense mifepristone by perscription without a doctor present, as was required by the drug specific Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy(REMS) program for Mifepristone before 2021. In the second half of 2020 the FDA was actually prohibited by court order from enforcing the in-person requirement, then in 2021 the FDA announced that it would use it's discretion not to enforce the in-person requirement and would undertake a comprehensive review of the REMS. In the end of 2021 they revised the REMS requirements to get rid of the in-person dispensing requirement and added the pharmacy certification. In Jan 2023 the FDA finally voted on the updated REMS and approved it effective immediately. At no point did they say they would stop using their discretion in enforcing the in-person requirement. So I highly doubt there is any risk for Walgreens associated with dispensing the drug now before they get the certification. That along with the fact they have not given any details on their application for certification make me very skeptical of their public statement. (all info the info about the FDA process i got fromthis FDA site Questions 11 and 13)
Edit 2: added …
Walgreens still upholds pharmacist citing “Religious Beliefs” as a reason to not give medication.
Walgreens used the words “plan” as a way to safely set the stage so they could backtrack at any given time.
Walgreens is trash & deserves to be ✨eliminated✨
America’s health system is a dumpster fire. It’s baffling that in 2023 people still use their imaginary friend in the sky as a valid reason to be assholes.
There were at least 4 states it was legal in where they said they'd stop selling it, so Walgreens can fuck all the way off.
Kinda ironic that Walgreens had no issue handing out opiates.
Now I know some ppl truly need opiates for certain medical reasons but……they sure didn’t stop selling those bc it was killing ppl.
☝️ 🏅🏅🏅
Kowtow to the fash, face the backlash. Good on California for telling Walgreens to fuck off
I chose not to buy there any longer.
It’s not cancel culture.
It’s capitalism.
Deal with it.
Exactly. Cancel culture is just conservative rebranding for the free market because they are no longer the most dominant and profitable consumer market.
Edit: Vesla Waever’s work “Frontlash: Race and Development of Punitive Crime Policy” is an excellent academic illustration of this and how it has been used to transform public policy.
I’m ool on this one but I’ve never had a positive experience at Walgreens and stopped going there years ago.
This. Capitalism and Democracy have always been one and the same with "cancel culture". If we the people decide something is intolerable, it is our obligation to cut all our support. Anyone who believes otherwise clearly doesnt understand the foundation the U.S. was built on.
And yet the religious pharmacists who will deny women life saving medications will happily fill opioid prescriptions and boner pills.
Please help your uninformed euro-trash ocean neighbour. What is this about?
Walgreens announced they weren't going to distribute abortion pills and states where it wasn't banned yet and faced a lot of backlash and people said they were going to boycott them so now that now they're panicking and try to walk it back hope that helps - from your friend from the states
Abortion pill is still legal to sell in many Republican states but Walgreens bent to their politics and stopped carrying it. After the backlash they lied and said they didn’t carry it because it was illegal.
Thank you kindly. I will refrain from the standard European schadenfreude and wish your country godspeed.
This warms my heart way too much right now.
Walgreens lost my business about a year ago when they stopped accepting my insurance for my ADHD meds CVS is so much better
Backpedal faster, assholes.
God I love Australia. No pharmacy can refuse to fill a legitimate script. PBS for many drugs. No big pharma as they are all fighting to be on the PBS.
Edit to add legitimate.
Hahahahahahaha! Wow, I hope nobody got whiplash from back pedaling so fast.
Nah Fuck them, this company stated that they will stop selling the day of after pill, just because the KS attorney general told the to stop. The company's response was sure will, even though no laws have changed currently just a dumbass lawsuit.
Except they also allow their pharmacists to not dispense when it violates their own religious beliefs, so um no. This press release is not true.
The federal government, which regulates prescription medication, has approved Mifepristone for pharmacies to distribute. There are no other "jurisdictions" in the United States that have authority to regulate prescription medication. What Walgreens is saying is that they are dishonest cowards, who will kow tow to the bigots and misogynists in the GQP because they DGAF about women's health or their legal standing to obtain medicines that doctors have prescribed them.
Pharmacists and pharmacies are often licensed by the state so if you don’t want to jeopardize your license then you follow the state laws.
In fact they are all licensed by the state, it’s a ruling by the federal government that each state makes its own board of pharmacy to license and regulate their pharmacists, technicians, interns, and pharmacies
Under his eye…or lie, whatever you prefer
Maybe just maybe don’t side with the people that overturned Roe v Wade in any sense.
Maybe, make the statement that regardless of state. Your company will work to bring support to all would be mothers regardless of which mini fascism run state they live in
As a pharmacist, go fuck yourself walgreens.
Why do businesses keep donating and supporting the GOP? The GOP turns everything into a culture war battle for their own benefit and businesses that have spent decades trying to figure out how to market to everyone are now faced with selling to only half the country because they have to pick a side. It’s a no-win situation unless they take the party promoting this chaos out of the equation entirely. Those tax cuts aren’t going to be as impressive if your overall sales tank because half the country is inevitably going to boycott you no matter what you do.
"Nice business you have there.. Shame if something where to happen to it.."
MTG has repeatedly threatened investigating any company that stopped donating to the Republicans after Jan 6.
DeSantis actually DID go after Disney for saying they would stop/limit donations to Florida Republicans after the "Don't say gay" bill was passed.
It's like a movie! "Backpeddling as they could, riding hard out of the friendly fascist territory, the brave Walmart C-Suite saved the super rich shareholders asses, again, and triumphed over the poors!
"Once we are certified by the FDA?"
So, they were never certified?
Damage is done, they won’t be able to recover their image from this.
Too late. You showed your cards mfers
Walgreens, are right-wingers enough to keep you in business? Every reputable poll I've seen shows Americans (even in the red states) want to keep abortion legal.
Sorry fuck faces you're already on the list with the rest Hobby Lobby Chick Filet Home Depot and Walmart can all thoroughly eat my asshole for the rest of my days on this stupid rock.
Their pharmacists and cashiers have been denying women and girls prescribed medicine and condoms for years. They're just upset that people are finally sick of it and boycotting. I already had plans to switch everything over to my grocery store pharmacy. I'll just wait for my doctor to put in a new prescription
If only they had billions of dollars to lobby state senators…
Not sure Walgreens has the influence to lobby it’s way around a California ban
It’s not like they’re Disney
walgreens is a shit pharmacy and demands patient - doctor information for most drugs! They will allow wacko religious right wackos to deny meds just on thier "beliefs" BAN THEM and switch your pharmacies!
"Providing legally approved medications to patients is what pharmacies do..." Really giving Republican politician replying to journalists vibes.
The Hobby Lobby of pharmacies has assured us they will still do nothing when their religious zealout employees deny medication. Yay /s
Backpedaling like Fred Flintstone leaving the garage.
"...plans to..."
That's very meticulously selected wording. It gives them an out. Plans change. Shit happens. "But that was never our plan."
They would sell heroin if it was legal. They kind of already do. Imagine if medicine was treated as a basic human right, not some sort of investment scheme.
it’s already FDA certified. this statement is a bunch of nonsense.
Remember, there os ALWAYS a CVS close by.
Better yet, use a mom and pop pharmacy.
Too late. You already lost my business. Your weasely attempt to retcon your position changes nothing. You thought you could pander to red states and you panicked when California called you to the mat.
this tweet is a lie
Blah blah blah. Still boycotting the bastards