Oregon has secured a three-year supply of mifepristone, the abortion medication at the center of a high-profile fight before the U.S. Supreme Court, Gov. Tina Kotek announced Thursday.
The upshot, Kotek says: Regardless of whatever decision the court comes to regarding whether the drug should be more tightly regulated — or available at all — patients in Oregon will have access for years to come.
“I will make sure that patients are able to access the medication they need and providers are able to provide that medication without unnecessary, politically-motivated interference and intimidation,” Kotek said in a statement. “To our providers, to the patients who live in Oregon or have been forced to come to our state for care, and to those who are helping people access the care they need, know that I have your back.”
According to a release from Kotek’s office, the state is partnering with Oregon Health and Science University to secure 22,500 doses of mifepristone. The governor is also instructing state boards that license medical providers to clarify that the state “supports providers in continuing to provide reproductive health care, consistent with the established standards of care, including prescribing, dispensing and using mifepristone regardless of the upcoming Supreme Court decision in the Texas lawsuit,” the release said.
Kotek’s office said Thursday the doses are already in the state’s possession. It was not clear from the release how they will be distributed to providers.
In 2000, the FDA approved the use of mifepristone to carry out abortions. It is typically taken in tandem with another drug, misoprostol. Currently, more than half of abortions in the U.S. are medication abortions that employ both drugs.
But the availability of mifepristone has been challenged by anti-abortion groups. Earlier this month, a federal judge in Texas ruled that federal approval of the drug should be overturned. An appeals court in New Orleans put part of the ruling on hold, pending appeal, while ruling that access to mifepristone should revert to tighter regulations that existed until 2016. The Supreme Court is currently considering whether to allow restrictions to move forward as the case proceeds. The high court has indicated a decision could come as soon as Friday.
Complicating matters, a federal judge in Washington state issued a very different ruling recently. That decision barred the FDA from making any changes to mifepristone regulation in 18 states that had filed suit in his court alleging the FDA has targeted the drug for excessive regulation.
Kotek on Thursday said the rulings hampering access to mifepristone “set an alarming precedent of putting politics above established science, medical evidence, and a patient’s health, life, and well-being — with potential implications beyond this one medication.”
“This meritless lawsuit is part of a larger campaign to ban abortion in every state, including those with legal protections for abortion access,” Kotek said. “We cannot afford to stand by and watch our fundamental right to reproductive health care be stripped away.”
With the move, Oregon joins Washington and other statesin stockpiling abortion drugs in advance of Supreme Court action. Washington Gov. Jay Inslee announced in early Aprilhis state had secured a three-year supply of mifepristone.
This story will be updated.
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