Costco will not sell abortion pills after pressure from conservatives

Costco will not dispense a key abortion pill at its pharmacies, a long-awaited win for conservatives trying to limit access to medication abortion.

For more than a year, Costco deliberated over whether to become certified to dispense mifepristone, the drug used first in the typical two-step regimen for a medication abortion. The procedure, often easier and cheaper than the surgical alternative, is the option women in America most frequently choose to end pregnancies.

Costco received pressure from groups on both sides of the issue, many of them investors in the nationwide grocery giant. The company’s decision not to sell the pill, first reported by Bloomberg, is a victory for anti-abortion advocates — but a narrow one.

Despite lawsuits and letters pleading to lawmakers, their campaign to thwart access to abortion pills has otherwise been slow-moving. Patients can still access medication abortion in all 50 states, even those where the procedure is illegal, because of laws allowing the pills to be remotely prescribed and mailed.

In a statement Thursday, Costco said the decision was “based on the lack of demand from our members and other patients.” The company did not answer further questions from The Washington Post about the influence of outside groups.

This month, Costco officials said they would not look to become certified to dispense mifepristone after a coalition of religious and conservative financial groups approached them ahead of formally requesting action on the issue, according to people familiar with the conversations.

The company’s decision was “a step in the right direction,” said Michael Ross, an attorney on the corporate engagement team of the Alliance Defending Freedom, a Christian conservative legal organization. ADF was a leader in the charge to keep mifepristone off Costco’s shelves.

“It doesn’t make sense as a fiduciary matter for these companies to be injecting themselves into this political controversy,” Ross said.

For two decades, the Food and Drug Administration, which in 2000 approved mifepristone for use through 10 weeks of pregnancy, required that the drug be picked up in person, a mandate abortion rights advocates saw as a hurdle in accessing the procedure.

In 2021, the agency halted the in-person requirement. Then, after the Supreme Court in 2022 struck down the constitutional right to an abortion, triggering abortion bans across the country, lawmakers in blue states passed “shield” laws designed to protect abortion providers from prosecutions. Those measures, active in eight states, allow providers to legally prescribe abortion pills regardless of where a patient lives.

The battle over whether mifepristone would be sold in retail pharmacies began in March 2024, when CVS and Walgreens received FDA certification to sell the pill.

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.

Getting certified to dispense the pill, Lander wrote to Costco CEO Ron Vachris, “aligns with both long-term shareholder interests and women’s health care needs.”

Conservative opponents swiftly disagreed.

A coalition of groups and individual investors sent letters to the same five companies. At the time, their stock in Costco was worth about $56 million. Thousands of Costco members and investors also signed a petition saying they did not want the company to sell mifepristone, an effort spearheaded by Inspire Investing, a Christian financial firm that is part of the coalition.

As pressure from investors mounted, Costco indicated it did not plan to become certified to sell mifepristone, citing customer interest.

Tim Schwarzenberger, Inspire Investing’s director of corporate engagement, said Costco’s choice “protects its brand, serves families, and keeps the company focused on what it does best.”

“By recognizing there was no customer demand and avoiding an ideological path, Costco steered clear of moral, legal, and business risks while staying true to its mission,” he said in a statement.

As of Thursday, it was unclear how the other companies would act. Kroger told The Post that it was still reviewing the FDA’s requirements to dispense mifepristone. Walmart declined to comment. McKesson, which includes the Health Mart franchise, and Albertsons did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Ross, the ADF attorney, said the coalition had also filed a shareholder proposal to CVS, which has been selling mifepristone for more than a year, and plans to do so for other companies.

“We’re hoping to build on this win,” he said.