Investors call on Walmart and Costco to ban abortion pills from stores

CNA staff, August 9, 2024 / 1:33 p.m.

A consortium of investors is warning major retail chains such as Walmart and Costco against selling the abortion pill, saying it will drive away customers and pose “legal and political risks” for the companies.

The letters, distributed earlier this month and signed by more than three dozen investment advisers, trustees and other financial professionals, called on retailers to stop carrying the abortion-inducing drug mifepristone in their stores. The signatories hold tens of millions of dollars in investments in the companies named.

The letters say that the New York City Comptroller recently urged retailers to offer the abortion pill, arguing that failure to do so would raise “investor concerns” and call into question the retailers’ “commitment to maximizing sales and long-term shareholder value.” The New York City Pension System invests heavily in the retailers.

In their letter, the signatories denied these allegations and called them “untrue.”

The investors argued that stockpiling the deadly pill would be “legally and politically sensitive,” that it would raise “significant reputational issues,” and that it would “reduce the company’s customer base both literally and by driving away many existing customers.”

Investors noted that the drug’s planned distribution is currently in flux, citing the Supreme Court’s recent decision in FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, which allowed the abortion pill to remain on the market, but only “for procedural reasons,” so the pill’s ultimate legality remains uncertain.

Retailers will “likely” be prohibited from sending the drug through the mail under current federal laws, the letters said. The drug is now banned entirely in 14 states, while four others restrict distribution, and Louisiana classifies the drug as a controlled substance.

“Continued promotion of this widespread form of abortion will likely only provoke further political backlash, reducing market opportunities and increasing legal risk,” the investors wrote.

Retailers should “carefully consider the cost to them of alienating their diverse customers and potential customers just to advertise a product in their pharmacies,” the letters continue, adding that allowing the drug to end the lives of unborn children could also have a significant impact on future sales.

“The Brookings Institution recently estimated that the average American family will spend $310,000 to raise a child born in 2015,” the signatories said. “Of that, over $50,000 is for food and $15,000 for clothing, not to mention furniture, other household and health items, toys and games, or diapers and baby formula – all things your stores sell.”

The distribution of the abortion drug will “reduce the demand for all these drugs and only exacerbate the crisis of record low birth rates,” the letters said.

Uncertainties about the health risks of the pill could further jeopardize business, investors said.

“Mifepristone ends lives in a manner that FDA understands causes serious harm to the mother,” they said. “Distribution carries legal and political risks and will involve (retailers) in an intense political battle that will severely damage (their) reputation.”

Leading the long list of signatories is Robert Netzly, CEO of Inspire Investing, whose website says it works to “empower Christian investors through biblically responsible investing excellence and innovation.”

Earlier this year, the company was ranked as one of the best registered investment advisors by USA Today.