Democratic Women’s Caucus Pushes AmerisourceBergen for Transparency on Reported Plans to Not Distribute Medication Abortion to 31 States
Washington D.C. – Today, the Democratic Women’s Caucus (DWC) Chair Lois Frankel, DWC Policy Task Force Co-Chair Kathy Manning, DWC Member and Ranking Member of the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health Anna Eshoo, and DWC Vice Chairs Nikema Williams and Teresa Leger Fernández sent a letter to AmerisourceBergen CEO Steven Collis urging him to provide the full list of states and jurisdictions where he intends to not distribute medication abortion pills to certified pharmacies.
AmerisourceBergen is the sole supplier of Mifeprex, the brand name version of mifepristone—a type of medication abortion commonly used across the country. Despite AmerisourceBergen’s critical role in ensuring women have access to medication abortion, recent reporting from Vox revealed that they circulated a list to corporate clients of 31 states where it would not supply medication abortion to certified pharmacies.
Further reporting from Politico revealed that said list even included Nevada, a state with numerous laws protecting the right to abortion and to prescribe and use abortion pills. Despite this reporting, AmerisourceBergen has yet to share its list publicly, or to Members of Congress.
In their letter, the lawmakers made clear that, “AmerisourceBergen’s actions could be the determining factor in whether a patient has access to a safe, effective medication needed for an abortion through a certified pharmacy.”
They continued, “To that end, we request you provide Members of Congress the full list of states and jurisdictions where you intend to not distribute Mifeprex and clearly outline the determination process and the rationale used to develop that list. If you are unable or unwilling to provide a list, we request that you provide clear steps on how Members of Congress can access this information about their state from AmerisourceBergen.”
The letter was also signed by 57 Democratic members of the House, including Representatives David Trone, Jan Schakowsky, Jim Costa, Katie Porter, Julia Brownley, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, Veronica Escobar, Dina Titus, Terri Sewell, Robert Garcia, Nydia Velazquez, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Jill Tokuda, Val Hoyle, Federica Wilson, Juan Vargas, Deborah Ross, Kathy Castor, Suzanne Bonamici, Dan Goldman, Ritchie Torres, Adriano Espaillat, Pramila Jayapal, Josh Gottheimer, Chuy Garcia, Salud Carbajal, Raul Grijalva, Nanette Barragan, Barbara Lee, Suzan DelBene, Shri Thanedar, Grace Meng, Daniel Kildee, Susie Lee, Summer Lee, James McGovern, Mikie Sherrill, Jahana Hayes, Haley Stevens. Jennifer McClellan, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Hillary Scholten, Becca Balint, Lucy McBath, Andrea Salinas, Greg Casar, Sheila Jackson Lee, Judy Chu, Melanie Stansbury, Jimmy Panetta, Ayanna Pressley, Yadira Caraveo, Sean Casten, Rosa DeLauro, Chris Pappas, Derek Kilmer and Collin Allred.
Read the full letter HERE and below:
Steven H. Collis
Chairman, President and CEO
AmerisourceBergen
1 West First Avenue
Conshohocken, PA 19428
Dear Mr. Collis,
We write today because we are concerned about reports that AmerisourceBergen will not distribute Mifeprex to certified pharmacies in 31 states. As the sole distributor of Mifeprex in the United States, AmerisourceBergen’s actions could be the determining factor in whether a patient has access to a safe, effective medication needed for an abortion through a certified pharmacy.
To that end, we request you provide Members of Congress the full list of states and jurisdictions where you intend to not distribute Mifeprex and clearly outline the determination process and the rationale used to develop that list. If you are unable or unwilling to provide a list, we request that you provide clear steps on how Members of Congress can access this information about their state from AmerisourceBergen.
We hope to hear from you soon and seek your cooperation as we work to ensure Mifeprex is equitably distributed across the nation.
Sincerely,
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