Walgreens CEO Brewer Hired Gov. Newsom's Former Chief of Staff to Negotiate Abortion Pills
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CEO Roz Brewer's Walgreens Donated in 2022 to Red State AG's No Abortion Pills Letter Group
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Like this Twitter follower, I was also watching Ali Velshi on MSNBC Saturday, when he reported that Walgreens had donated money to the very Red State AGs group that sent Walgreens the onimous “don’t do it” letter about selling abortion pills in their stores.
Unlike Fox News, Ali Velshi is very particular about the words coming out of his mouth. While we don’t know the amount of money donated — and whether a similar amount was donated to a Blue State AGs group — I do not challenge the veracity of Velshi’s claim. He would not make it without the receipts.
This new revelation didn’t make me feel any better about Walgreens CEO Roz Brewer, a businesswoman we celebrated on her appointment to the Walgreens Boots Alliance corner office as the first Black woman CEO.
Read MoreCalifornia Cancels May 2023 Renewal of Walgreens Prison System Pharma Contract
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In the first step of an “exhaustive review” of all contracts between Walgreens and the state of California, Gov. Gavin Newsom said on Wednesday that California will not renew a $54 million contract by which Walgreens delivers pharmacy services to inmates in California’s prison system. The contract was set to renew on May 1, 2023.
“This is an attempt to call the question ‘Which side are you on? Whose side are you on?” Newsom said in an interview with POLITICO ahead of the announcement. “Are you going to just cower in the face of bullies? Are you going to just roll over?”
When Walgreens, now led by former Starbucks COO Rosalind Brewer, stepped out solo over the weekend, saying that her pharmacies would abide by demand letters from red state attorneys generals that they agree not to sell mifepristone — even in red states where abortion is legal — AOC called the action a major mistake.
Anticipating severe backlash should have been a high priority for Brewer — especially when Walgreens was agreeing to anti-women demands going beyond what their state abortion laws now require.
Read MoreCould Walgreens Big Bow to Red States Demands on Abortion Pills Backfire? We Hope So!
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When Detroit native Rosalind ‘Roz’ Brewer left her position as COO at Starbucks in January 2021 to become the CEO of the Walgreens Boots Alliance, her appointment was hailed.
‘Roz’ Brewer was the first and only African American woman to lead a Fortune 500 company. And her credentials were stellar.
Fast forward two years, and Brewer is now the first CEO to bow to the demands of red-state attorneys general that drug store chains like CVS and Walgreens not sell abortion pills under new rules released by the FDA.
Brewer is also eyeing Medicare Advantage plans as her source of new and significantly more stable Walgreens income. Is she assuming that the Biden Administration won’t find ways to penalize Walgreens for so easily and quickly cutting off access to abortion pills to American women desperate to find them?
What happens if CVS decides not to honor the red states demands and fights for women’s access to abortion care in states where it remains legal, even if it is tied up in the courts?
Brewer can’t possibly believe that her Medicare Advantage Plan grandmothers won’t penalize Walgreen’s and favor CVS, if the larger and more profitable CVS decides to at least fight for their granddaughters’ access to abortion pills.
Read MoreStarbucks COO Rosalind Brewer Becomes CEO of Walgreens Boots Alliance
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