Misoprostol is a drug used in combination with mifepristone for early term abortion, but Newsom says it safely can be used for that purpose by itself.
Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday that California is securing a stockpile of abortion pills to blunt the potential impact of a judge’s ruling last week jeopardizing the most common means of terminating pregnancies in the U.S.
The Texas judge’s April 7 ruling would suspend federal approval of mifepristone, one of two pills commonly used together to terminate a pregnancy. A Washington judge issued an order protecting the drug’s legal status on the same day, further clouding the status of so-called medication abortions.
Newsom said Monday that his administration has purchased 250,000 doses of misoprostol, the second pill typically taken after mifepristone to complete the abortion, but which also can be used alone for that purpose.
“Our state has secured a stockpile of an alternative medication abortion drug to ensure that Californians continue to have access to safe reproductive health treatments,” Newsom said in a statement. “We will not cave to extremists who are trying to outlaw these critical abortion services. Medication abortion remains legal in California.”
Newsom said the state negotiated the purchase of misoprostol in anticipation of last Friday’s ruling by Matthew Kacsmaryk, a U.S. District Court judge for the northern district of Texas. The case involved a lawsuit by antiabortion doctors and medical groups who argued the federal Food and Drug Administration erred in its 23-year-old decision concluding mifepristone is safe.
The Biden administration is appealing Kacsmaryk’s ruling and requesting that it be stayed until all appeals are resolved.
More than 200 pharmaceutical company executives have since signed an open industry letter criticizing the ruling, arguing it “creates uncertainty for the entire biopharma industry” and “ignores decades of scientific evidence and legal precedent” that give the FDA final say in approving the safety and usage of drugs.
