Mifepristone was approved more than 20 years ago to induce first-trimester abortions in combination with a second drug, misoprostol.
Charlie Neibergall/AP
hide caption
toggle caption
Charlie Neibergall/AP
Mifepristone was approved more than 20 years ago to induce first-trimester abortions in combination with a second drug, misoprostol.
Charlie Neibergall/AP
Several states say they are stockpiling drugs used to induce abortion as a major abortion pill looks set to potentially become unavailable in the United States.
Governor Gavin Newsom’s office says it has made plans to secure an emergency stockpile of up to 2 million pills of misoprostol, a drug used in combination with another pill that is now the subject of legal battles in federal courts. Officials said the state currently has more than 250,000 of the tablets already available, which were purchased for about $100,000.
“While California still believes that Mifepristone is central to the preferred course for medical abortion, the State traded and bought emergency stocks of Misoprostol in anticipation of Friday’s decision by the right-wing federal judge extreme Matthew Kacsmaryk to ensure that California remains a safe haven for safe, affordable and accessible reproductive care,” Newsom’s office said in a statement provided to NPR.
Meanwhile, Massachusetts Governor Maura Healy said Monday afternoon that her state has stockpiled some 15,000 mifepristone tablets or more than a year’s worth of doses. Last week, Washington Governor Jay Inslee announced that his state has stockpiled about three years’ worth of mifepristone.
In the United States, most medication abortions involve two drugs: mifepristone followed by misoprostol, a protocol approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2000. A coalition of anti-abortion rights groups is suing the FDA, seeking to have mifepristone pulled from the market.
Last week, Kaczmaryk, a Trump-appointed federal judge in Texas with a long history of ties to conservative activists, ruled that the FDA should suspend its approval. His national order is scheduled to take effect this Friday unless the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals intervenes.
More than half of the abortions in the United States are now medication abortions, and the vast majority of those involve the two-drug protocol, which is considered the gold standard here. But the second medication in that regimen, misoprostol, can also be used alone to induce abortion.
Researchers say the single-drug approach is slightly less effective and can be more painful for patients, but misoprostol alone is approved by the World Health Organization as an effective option.
Newsom’s office says the pills were secured through the state’s CalRx prescription drug program, and California is providing information about its purchase agreement to other states that may be interested in taking them up. similar action.
Pharmacies facing shortages will be directed to a state website where they can find information on how to request pills from the misoprostol supply.
