Costco announced that it will no longer offer the abortion pill mifepristone at its stores.
The chain said in a statement to Reuters that demand for the pill has decreased. “Our position at this time not to sell mifepristone, which has not changed, is based on the lack of demand from our members and other patients, who we understand generally have the drug dispensed by their medical providers,” Costco said.
Alliance Defending Freedom legal counsel Micahel Ross told Newsweek that stores removing the pill from their shelves are “doing the right thing.”
“We applaud Costco for doing the right thing by its shareholders and resisting activist calls to sell abortion drugs. Retailers like Costco keep their doors open by selling a lifetime of purchases to families, both large and small,” Ross said. “They have nothing to gain and much to lose by becoming abortion dispensaries.”
“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,” Ross explained. “We’re honored to work alongside the many like-minded partners who made this moment possible—including Inspire Investing and public officials like state financial officers, who put the deeply held values and fiduciary needs of their clients first and simply call upon the companies they own to do the same.”
A spokesperson for New York City Comptroller Brad Lander criticized the decision, telling Bloomberg that Costco’s move is “disappointing and short-sighted.”
A recent study released by the Ethics and Public Policy Center found that 1 in 10 women who take mifepristone to induce abortions experience severe complications, a number at least 22 times as high as reported on the drug’s label.
