Movement to boycott Walgreens grows after people claim they were denied condoms, birth control

Walgreens is facing blowback and threats of a boycott after several stories surfaced online from customers who experienced difficulties purchasing condoms and refilling their prescriptions for birth control.

Within the last few days, the hashtag #BoycottWalgreens began picking up steam after more customers from across the US began sharing stories on various social media platforms about the pushback they received in recent weeks while attempting to purchase items related to contraception or birth control.

This recent pushback arrives less than a month after the US Supreme Court released their decision in Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization, a landmark ruling that held that the Constitution of the United States does not confer a right to abortion, which ultimately reversed the nearly half-century right established in Roe v Wade.

In one of the more infamous stories that initially triggered the online backlash, TikToker Abigail Martin explained in a viral video how when she attempted to refill her prescription for birth control at a Walgreens pharmacy earlier this month -- a pill which she had been taking for the past six years without issue – she ran into some unexpected obstacles.

The 20-year-old photographer and influencer said that, despite having four refills on her prescription – as was later confirmed by her doctor – the pharmacist at the Walgreens location she visited claimed that the prescription could not be filled, and that she’d have to contact her provider.

“I said ‘You won’t refill it or you can’t refill it?’” the influencer said in the video that has now garnered more than 3.7m views as of Wednesday morning. In response, the employee told her to again contact her provider.

In the time that passed, the young woman ultimately ended up missing several days of her prescription and was forced to seek out her refill from an alternate Walgreens pharmacist.

That employee later told the 20-year-old that the location had apparently been having issues with the pharmacist that the young woman had initially engaged with for the past couple of weeks, specifically regarding women seeking birth control.

“First they want us to stop getting pregnant and having abortions, and then they don’t want to help us prevent that pregnancy,” the influencer closed in the video regaling the frustrating incident.

Separately on Twitter, an old tweet from 2018 resurfaced as more customers began sharing their experiences about the second-largest pharmacy store chain in the US denying them contraception.

In the nearly four-year-old tweet, Walgreens responded to a question from a user who had inquired whether the company’s employees were permitted to “refuse service based upon their religious beliefs.” The company said they were allowed to “step away” from filling prescriptions if they were morally opposed to fulfilling it.

“Our policy allows pharmacists to step away from filling a prescription for which they have a moral objection. At the same time, they are also required to refer the prescription to another pharmacist or manager on duty to meet the patient’s needs in a timely manner,” the pharmacy tweeted.

While the tweet itself has blown up in recent days, there have been many stories circulating in the weeks since the Roe v Wade reversal that even prompted the federal health officials to issue a reminder to US pharmacies that they must comply with civil rights laws when they make decisions about dispensing medication.

In the guidance released by the Department of Health and Human Services on 13 July, it clarifies that pharmacists are not permitted to discriminate “with regard to supplying medications; making determinations regarding the suitability of a prescribed medication for a patient; or advising patients about medications and how to take them”.

“We are committed to ensuring that everyone can access health care, free of discrimination,” said HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra. “This includes access to prescription medications for reproductive health and other types of care.”

The guidance, which was directed at the nearly 60,000 pharmacies across the US who are recipients of federal financial assistance, emphasised that individual pharmacists working at these locations were prohibited from excluding an individual “from participation in, denying them the benefits of, or otherwise subjecting them to discrimination based on sex and other bases (i.e., race, color, national origin, age, and disability) in their programs and activities”.

In response to the trending hashtag, a senior director of external relations at Walgreens told The Independent that instances such as the ones being shared online are “very rare.” The senior director also claimed that the company continues to respect the “religious and moral beliefs” of employees.

“Instances like this are very rare and our policies are designed to ensure we meet the needs of our patients and customers while respecting the religious and moral beliefs of our team members,” said Fraser Engerman. “In the instance a team member has a religious or moral conviction that prevents them from meeting a customer need, we require them to refer the customer to another employee or manager on duty who can complete the transaction.”

For Ms Martin, that referral to another employee who could’ve completed her refill didn’t play out when she was denied her refill. Instead, she was led to believe she didn’t have any more refills and was forced to take the onerous steps of reaching out to her provider to confirm that she did indeed have four more.

For Twitter user Nate Pentz, though his wife was offered an alternative employee to approve her transaction of condoms at a Walgreens earlier this month in Hayward, Minnesota, the couple felt so wronged by the experience they didn’t want the company to take any more money from them going forward.

“We went to Hayward to get some groceries and a stop at @Walgreens because we had left Jess birth control at home. As Jess was checking out, cashier John told her he couldn’t sell her the condoms. ‘Oh I got them from over there’, tweeted Mr Pentz describing the encounter, before his wife was informed that the cashier could sell them but he wouldn’t “because of my faith.”

“I can get a manager here, do you want me to finish checking out these things,” Mr Pentz said, relaying what the cashier had said to his wife, to which she replied: “Not from you!”

After the hashtag asking to #boycottWalgreens began picking up online, Twitter users began issuing similar commitments to move their business to other pharmacies across the country.

“Allowing employees to refuse to ring someone up for birth control is really bad customer service. This will cause customers to feel uncomfortable at the checkout.  My $24,000+ a year in prescriptions for the past 4 years will be going elsewhere,” tweeted user JLynnMM.

“Thought about going into @Walgreens this morning to get my medicine cabinet supplies. Then I remembered that they’re allowing their employees to refuse service for religious reasons and pulled out of their lot and went to the store,” tweeted another user.