CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Deerfield-based Walgreens recently announced that it would not dispense abortion bills in at least 21 states where Attorneys General have threatened legal action. These are states where abortion is illegal, severely restricted or that have legislation pending.
Ald. Raymond Lopez (15th) proposed that Chicago’s Public Health Department be ordered to end all agreements and vendor contracts with Walgreens and its affiliates.
“During National Women’s Month, we are allowing one of our vendors to arbitrarily refuse to provide legal, medical abortion medicine,” Lopez said. “We can’t allow them to do this unchecked, and there should be a conversation with them and their status as one of our vendors getting millions from the City of Chicago.”
Gov. J.B. Pritzker was among more than a dozen Democratic governors who urged pharmacies in Illinois to maintain the availability of abortion pills where the abortion is legal.
The company took its actions after lawsuits were threatened by attorneys general in primarily Republican-controlled states.
“We know that there are plenty of people at the federal level who like playing games when it comes to people’s lives and policy, but last time I checked, abortion is still legal in the United States,” Lopez said. “Access to that medication is still legal in the United States, and it’s still legal here in Illinois, Cook County and the city of Chicago, so our vendors who say that they are sharing our values need to do that both in word and deed.”
Lopez said he wants a conversation with Walgreens officials. If a hearing is held on this measure, he might get it.
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