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Governor Maura Healey said the state will keep its supply of abortion drugs Mifepristoneand cited “ongoing attacks on reproductive health care” even after a Supreme Court ruling last week secured access to the drug.
In an interview with WBUR Tuesday.
“We're sticking with it for now,” she told Radio Boston. “So much is under attack right now. Donald Trump is fully behind it, he's standing up for it and supporting it. They want to block access to abortion, to medical abortion, to contraception and to IVF. That's the Republican playbook right now.”
Karissa Hand, a spokeswoman for the governor, confirmed the state's intention to maintain the drug. Healey's administration had previously said it had a few yr's supply.
“Given the ongoing attacks on reproductive health care and the threat of another Donald Trump presidency, we will maintain our supply of mifepristone to ensure we are prepared to protect access should there be further efforts to restrict medication abortion,” Hand said in a press release to Boston.com.
The state bought the stock last April for nearly $700,000
Healey's administration ordered the acquisition of the doses in April 2023 due to several legal challenges to the drug's use. At the time, a federal judge in Texas halted the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) approval of mifepristone, threatening its availability in states where abortion is legal.
The challenge was partly a response to several years of FDA relaxes regulations for obtaining the pill, including making it available at more mail-order pharmacies and huge pharmacy chains. In March, CVS and Walgreens announced plans to dispense the drug in several states, including Massachusetts.
Mifepristone was first approved by the FDA in 2000. It is used together with a drug called misoprostol to terminate pregnancy as much as 10 weeks of pregnancy and for other purposes resembling treating miscarriages and lupus.
“Mifepristone is safe and effective. It has been the gold standard for over two decades,” Healey said in a opinion in 2023. “We're keeping it available in Massachusetts – no matter what some extremist Trump-appointed judge in Texas says.”
The Supreme Court ruled last week to preserve access to the drug
Last week, the Supreme Court issued a unanimous ruling securing access to the drug utilized in almost two thirds of all abortions within the United States, judges said that the plaintiffs who brought the case – identified within the Supreme Court Decision and “several pro-life physicians and associations” – didn’t have the legal standing to challenge the FDA’s approval of the drug.
Healey said on Tuesday the choice was a “no-brainer,” but the explanations on which the judges decided to proceed to make the drug available were worrying.
“[The decision] “There is not any consolation in any respect – it just said that these particular people weren’t allowed to seem in court. But perhaps other parties could challenge medication abortion in court,” Healey said.
Healey added that she was “concerned” about future rulings that could restrict abortion, noting that some people have already come to the state to have the procedure.
The 15,000 doses of mifepristone cost the state about $675,000, according to . The stock has remained untouched because the purchase last yr.
image credit : www.boston.com