Utah (ABC4) — Walgreens announced it would no longer sell abortion pills by mail in Utah, and 19 other conservative-led states.

According to the Hill, this comes after a group of 20 Republican attorneys general sent a letter to CVS and Walgreens, that said they could face legal consequences if they sell abortion pills by mail in their states.

The letter was cosigned by attorneys general in Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and West Virginia.

This includes the state of Utah where abortion is still legal up to 18 weeks of pregnancy. Right now, Utah’s trigger law is being challenged in court, so the state is following Utah Code section 76 for rules regarding abortion. This could change in the coming weeks with a new bill that passed Legislation Friday.

However, as the law stands March 3, 2023, abortion is still legal up to 18 weeks. And according to the FDA, an abortion using pills typically involves the two drugs mifepristone and misoprostol. The FDA has approved these pills for use in the first 10 weeks of pregnancy.

Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre talked to the Hill about Republican attorneys generals threatening consequences for the distribution of FDA-approved abortion medication.

“Elected officials targeting pharmacies and their ability to provide women with safe, effective, and FDA-approved medication is dangerous and just unacceptable,” Jean-Pierre said. 

“This is all part of a continued effort by anti-abortion extremists who want to use this arcane law to impose a backdoor ban on abortion,” Jean-Pierre said. “The administration will continue to stand by the FDA’s expert judgment in approving and regulating medications.”

A bill in Utah, which passed legislation Friday, and is awaiting the governor’s signature or veto, would also ban abortions through the use of pills. According to Rep. Karianne Lisonbee, the bill sponsor, she said that only certain types of abortion can be performed.

“The abortion would be done through induction of labor, so the baby would be born rather than have the baby cut apart in utero in a surgical abortion procedure,” bill sponsor Rep. Karianne Lisonbee said. “Because we feel that we want to protect that, that life and not and not put it through the pain that that would cause”

Lisonbee said in this abortion procedure, the baby would die naturally outside of the womb. To read what other restrictions this bill would impose, read the article, Abortion bill stricter than Utah’s trigger law passes Legislature.