Mifepristone mistakenly listed on Kroger, Sam’s Club websites

Kroger, one of the largest grocery store chains in the United States, came under fire earlier this week after the abortion-inducing drug mifepristone appeared for sale on its webpage. The pro-life outlet Live Action News initially reported that the store carried the product at $7 per pill. A third-party site erroneously posted that Kroger carried the product, a Kroger spokeswoman told WORLD. The grocery chain does not carry the item, nor has it ever, she added.

The wholesale market Sam’s Club also came under scrutiny this week after the drug appeared for sale on its webpage. Spokeswoman Allison Van Matre said Sam’s Club had also been the victim of erroneous marketing. A tool used by a third party provided erroneous information about mifepristone, Van Matre told WORLD.

Why is this a big deal? Isn’t Plan B available there already? Despite their common association, Plan B and mifepristone have different functions. Plan B is considered a morning-after pill. It acts as a concentrated form of legal birth control that prevents pregnancy before it occurs. It does this by stopping conception by stalling a woman’s ovulation, leaving the ovaries without an egg for viable sperm to fertilize. Conversely, mifepristone terminates an already-existing pregnancy. The drug blocks the mother’s production of the hormone progesterone, causing the uterine lining to thin, rendering the uterus uninhabitable for the embryo.

Dig deeper: Read Liz Lykins’ report on a New York court protecting the right of pregnancy clinics to share information on abortion pill reversal.