Aug 14 (Reuters) - Costco Wholesale (COST.O) , said on Thursday it will stop selling abortion pill mifepristone across all its U.S. pharmacy stores, citing low demand.

“Our position at this time not to sell mifepristone, which has not changed, is based on the lack of demand from our members and other patients, who we understand generally have the drug dispensed by their medical providers,” Costco said, adding that it will stop the sale at its more than 500 pharmacies.

The decision comes amid campaigns against the pill by religious activist groups, including Inspire Investing and Alliance Defending Freedom.

“Many retailers have become more cautious about taking overt political or social stances after recent controversies triggered boycotts, negative media coverage, and polarized consumer reactions,” said Arun Sundaram, senior analyst at CFRA.

  • JonsJava@lemmy.world
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    1 hour ago

    This post was reported as “misinformation”. The article has since been updated with the following:

    (This Aug. 14 story has been corrected to say that Costco will ‘not sell’ mifepristone instead of ‘stop selling’ the pill in paragraph 1 and removes reference to ‘stopping sale’ in paragraph 2)

    Because of this, I’m leaving it up, as the poster and the article didn’t intend to mislead, and the article has since been corrected.

  • MerrySkeptic@sh.itjust.works
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    17 hours ago

    I read elsewhere that they never sold it. I read the article but it seems to contradict itself. It says Costco “stopped selling” it, but it also quotes Costco as saying “Our position at this time not to sell mifepristone, which has not changed, is based on the lack of demand from our members and other patients, who we understand generally have the drug dispensed by their medical providers,” (emphasis mine).

    So either Reuters is wrong when it says they stopped selling, or Costco is lying when it says it’s position never changed

    • Boddhisatva@lemmy.world
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      6 hours ago

      The headline and article have been corrected:

      Aug 14 (Reuters) - (This Aug. 14 story has been corrected to say that Costco will ‘not sell’ mifepristone instead of ‘stop selling’ the pill in paragraph 1 and removes reference to ‘stopping sale’ in paragraph 2)

    • Ajen@sh.itjust.works
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      14 hours ago

      The way I read it, if Costco isn’t lying then Reuters is lying.

      “Our position at this time not to sell mifepristone, which has not changed, is based on the lack of demand from our members and other patients, who we understand generally have the drug dispensed by their medical providers,” Costco said, adding that it will stop the sale at its more than 500 pharmacies.

      Reuters reported that Costco explicit said they’d stop selling the drug, but apparently chose not to include that part of the quote for some reason.

      • ImADifferentBird@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        5 hours ago

        Aug 14 (Reuters) - (This Aug. 14 story has been corrected to say that Costco will ‘not sell’ mifepristone instead of ‘stop selling’ the pill in paragraph 1 and removes reference to ‘stopping sale’ in paragraph 2)

        Apparently it was Reuters that was lying.

  • wuffah@lemmy.world
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    19 hours ago

    Low demand?? Birth control is in low demand??? I’m surprised that Costco doesn’t sell a smaller spoon to make this horseshit a little more palatable.

    Nothing sells capitalism as inherently fascist faster than every corporation racing to obey the regime in advance.

    • fishpen0@lemmy.world
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      4 hours ago

      They never sold the product. This is Reuters being slimy. The headline and article have been corrected:

      Aug 14 (Reuters) - (This Aug. 14 story has been corrected to say that Costco will ‘not sell’ mifepristone instead of ‘stop selling’ the pill in paragraph 1 and removes reference to ‘stopping sale’ in paragraph 2)

      This is like being angry at a gas station for never selling prescription lenses because they happen to have sunglasses on a rack in the front. Like, yes people buy reading glasses, and the gas station sells other kinds of glasses. But people tend to go to CVS to buy them so the gas station doesn’t want to carry them and, most importantly, never has in the entire history of their company.

    • Boddhisatva@lemmy.world
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      6 hours ago

      “Our position at this time not to sell mifepristone, which has not changed, is based on the lack of demand from our members and other patients, who we understand generally have the drug dispensed by their medical providers,” Costco said.

      The article clarifies that the demand is low because people tend not to get the drug from pharmacies, they generally get the drug directly from their provider.

    • Fedizen@lemmy.world
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      17 hours ago

      Its probably a demographic mismatch: how many people with a costco card are under 30 years old?

    • callouscomic@lemmy.zip
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      18 hours ago

      Earlier this year Costco was in the news effectively telling the Cheeto Nazi administration to get fucked and they reinforced their standing behind their DEI policies.

      That’s just one example. I don’t think they are the capitalist enemy you should focus on. I’m inclined to believe them on this one.

      • TheLowestStone@lemmy.world
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        18 hours ago

        I’m generally pretty skeptical but this is plausible. The statement mentions that people often get it directly from their medical provider. If you need to see a doctor to get it and the doctor can just give it to you why would you go to the pharmacy instead?

    • aesthelete@lemmy.world
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      18 hours ago

      They could be right in this case honestly, because there is probably a minuscule fraction of the preppers, large families, and pre-planners that shop at Costco that wouldn’t just use some other type of birth control.

      Post-conception birth control in general I cannot see being someone’s primary method.

      It still sucks, but I buy this much more than I buy that Colbert was cancelled for purely financial reasons.

    • fishpen0@lemmy.world
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      4 hours ago

      They never sold the product. This is Reuters being slimy. The headline and article have been corrected:

      Aug 14 (Reuters) - (This Aug. 14 story has been corrected to say that Costco will ‘not sell’ mifepristone instead of ‘stop selling’ the pill in paragraph 1 and removes reference to ‘stopping sale’ in paragraph 2)

      This is like being angry at a gas station for never selling prescription lenses because they happen to have sunglasses on a rack in the front

  • Capricorn_Geriatric@lemmy.world
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    22 hours ago

    It’s probably not even sales.

    It’s an off-patent, mass-produced medicine (read: cheap) with multiple uses, not just abortions.

    There are a bunch of medicines that are both patented (i.e. expensive) and with way lower demand. In other words: less profitable.

    So my reading of this: low demand is an outright lie. They’re not carrying on the off-chance the fact they carry it becomes a burden.

    • solrize@lemmy.ml
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      22 hours ago

      They certainly carry plenty of cheap multi-use drugs like aspirin, but I’d expect the sales volume to be a lot higher. I wonder how many infrequently used cheap prescription drugs they carry. Yeah it’s unfortunate if they’re reacting to political pressure. They do still carry birth control I’m sure.

    • morphballganon@lemmy.world
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      17 hours ago

      Why are there so many people here who appear to be incapable of reading?

      Costco never sold the product.

      Do you understand? It’s a misleading headline.

    • fishpen0@lemmy.world
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      4 hours ago

      They never sold the product. This is Reuters being slimy. The headline and article have been corrected:

      Aug 14 (Reuters) - (This Aug. 14 story has been corrected to say that Costco will ‘not sell’ mifepristone instead of ‘stop selling’ the pill in paragraph 1 and removes reference to ‘stopping sale’ in paragraph 2)

        • fishpen0@lemmy.world
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          3 hours ago

          To generate clicks. Outrageous headlines drive engagement back to their site. What percentage of us clicked through and ended up reading something else.

          Otherwise Reuters is owned by the Thompson family via Woodbridge investment company. Woodbridge or the thompsons could be buying, selling, shorting shares of Costco or a competitor and are nudging the trading algorithms.

    • morphballganon@lemmy.world
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      17 hours ago

      They never sold the product.

      Why are you being so harsh to a company whose stance hasn’t changed?

      Is it because you’re a right-wing troll trying to sow division among the left, or are you just really, really bad at reading?

  • Regna@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    Wtf!? It and misoprostol are also a part of a medicine regime to prevent bleeding stomach ulcers for sufferers of several autoimmune diseases.

    • Boddhisatva@lemmy.world
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      6 hours ago

      “Our position at this time not to sell mifepristone, which has not changed, is based on the lack of demand from our members and other patients, who we understand generally have the drug dispensed by their medical providers,” Costco said.

      Don’t let the media manipulate you. Costco did not “stop” selling the drug. A WP article makes it clearer that they have never sold the drug.

      For more than a year, Costco deliberated over whether to become certified to dispense mifepristone, the drug used first in the typical two-step regimen for a medication abortion.

      They debated getting certified to sell it and decided not to because most people get the drug directly from their provider, rather than from a pharmacy. The media is spamming this decision not to start selling it as a conservative win when it’s really nothing of the sort.

      Edit: The Reuters article linked by OP was just corrected.

      Aug 14 (Reuters) - (This Aug. 14 story has been corrected to say that Costco will ‘not sell’ mifepristone instead of ‘stop selling’ the pill in paragraph 1 and removes reference to ‘stopping sale’ in paragraph 2)

      They also updated the headline.