By Dave Andrusko

Last week, we reported on the decision of Costco’s Corporation, the nationwide grocery giant, not to dispense mifepristone—the abortion pill—at its more than 500 pharmacy locations.

In a statement, Costco said only that the decision was “based on the lack of demand from our members and other patients.” A spokesman for New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, who had tried to leverage the city’s huge pension fund, told Bloomberg News

“Costco’s decision to refuse to dispense mifepristone is disappointing and short-sighted. Failure to provide access to proven safe and FDA-approved medication under the guise of ‘weak demand’ risks isolating customers and undermines the company’s credibility.”

More about Lander below.

Photo: Tony Webster
CC BY-SA 2.0

Today, in addition to aspects I hadn’t considered and information from more-or-less neutral sources, we’ll add what pro-abortion media outlets said initially about Costco’s decision and since.

#1. Reporting for the Huffington Post, Lydia O’Connor insists

In reality, abortion pills have proven to be safe and effective, even when dispensed via telehealth, despite claims peddled by anti-abortion groups.

However, the “claims” are based not just on studies of the use of abortion pills in the U.S., but also on their use overseas. Both find that the pills are much more dangerous to women than its supporter pretend and nearly always fatal to unborn babies. As NRLC wrote in its formal comments to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration

• FDA data documenting at least 36 deaths and thousands of adverse events linked to mifepristone use.

• Peer-reviewed research showing significantly higher complication rates for chemical abortions compared to surgical abortions, including a Finnish study reporting surgical intervention rates of 5.9% for chemical abortions versus 1.8% for surgical procedures.

• A 2024 Ethics and Public Policy Center report finding an 11% serious adverse event rate in U.S. insurance claims data—far higher than the 0.5% often cited by abortion advocates.

#2. The impact of the decision “extends beyond Costco’s membership, since nonmembers can fill prescriptions at its drug counters,” Maya Goldman writes.

#3. In March 2024, CVS and Walgreens received FDA certification to sell the pill. The Washington Post’s Praveena Somasundaram wrote

Four months later, New York City Comptroller Brad Lander sent letters to a handful of other household-name pharmacies, urging them to follow in the footsteps of CVS and Walgreens. In his letters to Costco, Walmart, Kroger, Albertsons and McKesson, Landers reminded the companies that New York City’s pension system owned shares in them. The shares in Costco alone at the time were valued at $443.9 million.

In response, quoting from the letter sent to Costco’s Chief Executive Officer by a coalition of pro-life groups and individual investors, we read

The New York City Comptroller recently urged you to “immediately take the necessary steps” to begin dispensing mifepristone and warned that failing to do so “raises significant investor concerns,” including “the company’s responsiveness to a growing market opportunity, its mitigation of reputational risks, and its commitment to maximizing sales and long-term shareholder value.”

 

Not true. Maximizing shareholder value requires Costco to avoid politicizing its services and to continue to do what it has always done best, provide excellent grocery and retail goods to families. The “growing market opportunity” of abortion drugs is legally and politically fraught, raises significant reputational issues, and reduces the company’s customer base.

#3. As mentioned above, CVS and Walgreens are filling “prescriptions” for mifepristone. Jeff Green and Jessica Nix reported that Michael Ross, legal counsel for the corporate engagement team at Alliance Defending Freedom, “said the group will now focus on Walgreens Boots Alliance and CVS Health Corp., which dispense mifepristone in pharmacies in states where abortion is legal.”

Goldman inquired if the companies planned to change.

“We have a long history of supporting and advancing women’s health and we remain focused on meeting their unique health needs,” Amy Thibault, CVS executive director of corporate communications and external affairs, said in an email. “This includes providing access to safe, legal, and evidence-based reproductive health services, information, and FDA-approved products.”

Keep in mind that Amazon does not currently offer mifepristone.