Newsom says California will cut ties with Walgreens over abortion pills decision

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) tweeted Monday that his state will not be doing business with Walgreens after the company announced it would not distribute abortion pills in some GOP-led states where abortion is still legal, Reuters reports. The drugstore's announcement came after Republican attorneys general warned Walgreens "of risking breaking the law if it distributed the pills," Reuters summarizes.

Newsom wrote that California would not work with Walgreens or "any company that cowers to the extremists and puts women's lives at risk." A spokesperson for Newsom told Reuters that "all relationships" between the company and California are under review, though they declined to explain how the pair's business relationship might change.

Last month Walgreens responded to the legal threats from Republican state leaders by committing to not selling the pills in 20 states, including Alaska, Iowa, Kansas, and Montana, where abortion medications are legal, per sexual rights research group The Guttmacher Institute.

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That said, an early March statement from Walgreens is "at odds" with that commitment, The Washington Post writes. In the statement, the company says that it "plans to dispense Mifepristone in any jurisdiction where it is legally permissible to do so."

"Once we are certified by the FDA, we will dispense this medication consistent with federal and state laws," the statement continues.

In January, the Food and Drug Administration changed regulations to allow retail pharmacies to dispense Mifepristone, an abortion pill, as long as it was prescribed by a certified health care provider prescribed it and sold by a certified pharmacy. But when "leading chains like Walgreens, CVS, and Rite Aid announced they would apply for certification to sell mifepristone, the pushback was swift," says the Post. In addition to the warning letters from GOP leaders, anti-abortion protestors also crashed a Walgreens shareholder meeting.

The company is still seeking certification and therefore does not carry Mifepristone at this time.