Walgreens is facing online backlash after reports of customers having issues purchasing birth control and condoms over the past month.
#BoycottWalgreens was trending this week following complaints from customers about being able to purchase reproductive health products.
The online backlash occurred as the debate over reproductive rights has taken on heightened intensity since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in late June.
The controversy surrounding prescription contraceptives and so-called ‘abortion pills’ comes after President Joe Biden recently signed an executive order expanding access to abortion pills and warned pharmacies that they risk violating civil rights laws if they refuse to dispense such pills.
At the start of the month, a woman named Abigail Martin posted a video on TikTok that detailed a litany of issues she had while trying to get her birth control prescription refilled at a Walgreens location. The video received more than 3.7 million views since it was published.
In a column published in The Star Tribune on July 9, a woman named Jessica Pentz claimed that a Walgreens employee refused to sell her a box of condoms in Wisconsin, citing his religious faith. After refusing to fill the order, the clerk asked his manager to sign him out of the register so the manager could ring Pentz’s order up.
In response to the story, Walgreens issued a statement: “Our company policy allows team members to step away from completing a transaction to which they have a moral objection and refer the transaction to a fellow team member or manager who will complete the customer’s request.”
Since the column was published, customers have taken to social media to voice complaints with Walgreens related to purchasing other reproductive health products.
In a viral thread posted on Twitter on July 19, a woman said she received a package of baby formula from Walgreens after she bought a pregnancy test at one of their stores.
Additionally, NOLA.com reported on July 10 that in the days following the ruling to overturn Roe, a Louisiana doctor prescribed Cytotec to a patient to make the insertion of an IUD less painful. According to the doctor, Walgreens contacted her to ask if the prescription was for an abortion and when she explained that it was for an IUD insertion, the pharmacist refused to dispense the medication.
