Costco Won't Dispense Abortion Pill After Conservative Pressure Campaign

In a move emboldening right-wing activists to keep up their pressure campaigns, Costco confirmed Thursday that it won’t seek certification to dispense mifepristone, also known as the abortion pill.

In an announcement first reported by Bloomberg News, Costco said the decision was “based on the lack of demand from our members and other patients” for mifepristone, the first drug used in what’s usually a two-step regimen.

Costco did not return HuffPost’s request to elaborate on the decision, but the conservative activist groups who lobbied for it are calling the announcement a big win ― and say they’re setting their sights on more pharmacies.

“Retailers like Costco keep their doors open by selling a lifetime of purchases to families, both large and small. They have nothing to gain and much to lose by becoming abortion dispensaries,” Michael Ross, legal counsel for the Christian legal organization Alliance Defending Freedom, said in a statement.

Mifepristone is the first of what's typically a two-drug regimen.

New York Daily News via Getty Images

“Retail pharmacies exist to serve the health and wellness of their customers, but abortion drugs like mifepristone undermine that mission by putting women’s health at risk,” he continued.

In reality, abortion pills have proven to be safe and effective, even when dispensed via telehealth, despite claims peddled by anti-abortion groups. Medication abortion accounts for nearly two-thirds of pregnancy terminations in the U.S., up 10% from 2020.

Kiki Freedmand, the co-founder and CEO of abortion pill provider Hey Jane, emphasized the safety of mifepristone and said Costco’s decision was an alarming step in the wrong direction.

“Expanding the number of ways patients can get mifepristone is critical to protecting access to care,” she told HuffPost. “Every pharmacy that chooses to dispense this medication helps break down barriers and ensures people can get safe, legal and essential care in their own communities.”

Mifepristone, she noted, has a safety record that surpasses both penicillin and Viagra.

Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) told HuffPost it was “deeply disappointing to see this sort of capitulation to the far right’s intimidation” from Costco.

“I don’t want my daughters to grow up in a world with fewer rights than I had, but the Republicans’ anti-choice, anti-science crusade is ripping reproductive freedom away from Americans,” said Duckworth, who was among a group of Democrats that urged Costco to ignore conservative pressure and seek certification for mifepristone distribution in 2023.

Part of that pressure campaign included an ADF-facilitated letter to Costco last year from various financial institutions, including the Christian firm Inspire Investing, calling on the company not to carry mifepristone and reminding Costco that they have a combined $56 million in company stock.

“Dispensing [mifepristone] is filled with legal and political risk and will inject Costco into the middle of an intense political battle at great expense to its reputation,” the coalition warned.

The coalition also told Costco that contributing to abortion access was bad for the company’s bottom line because it stands to make more money from bigger families.

Costco in Rancho Cordova, California.

slobo via Getty Images

Inspire Investing was also behind a petition last year that collected signatures from more than 6,000 Costco members opposed to the store carrying the abortion pill.

Ross told Bloomberg that ADF will now shift its focus to getting mifepristone out of Walgreens and CVS, which both announced last year they were dispensing the medication at their pharmacies in most states where abortion remains legal. Both have a much larger pharmacy footprint than Costco.

Walgreens already bowed to pressure from attorneys general in several red states and agreed not to dispense mifepristone in Alaska, Iowa, Kansas and Montana, even though distribution remains legal there.