There’s a legal fight over this abortion drug. An Idaho neighbor is stockpiling it
This story was originally published on idahocapitalsun.com on April 24, 2023.
Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek has announced that the state will secure a three-year supply of mifepristone, one of two drugs used to terminate a pregnancy and manage miscarriages, amid lawsuits and an expected U.S. Supreme Court ruling on access to the medication.
“By challenging the FDA’s authority over mifepristone, the lower court decisions 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,” Kotek said in a news release.
The state government intends to partner with Oregon Health & Science University to secure a supply of 22,500 doses. Kotek’s office and the Oregon Health Authority first asked health care providers in the state for their thoughts on the ongoing court battle and whether additional state support was necessary, according to the release.
The health authority told the Oregon Capital Chronicle last week that it was exploring “all options” to ensure access to safe, legal and effective abortion care.
The abortion pill will remain available throughout the United States while a lawsuit over its approval and use works through the appeals process, the U.S. Supreme Court said in late April.
The court issued a stay that ensures access to mifepristone nationwide, reversing a lower court ruling about when and how the abortion medication should be available in a case filed by anti-abortion-rights organizations. The case is expected to ultimately be decided by the high court following appeals court deliberations.
Oregon governor says state officials won’t extradite people for receiving abortion care there
Kotek’s office said she will also direct Oregon’s licensing boards to issue guidance clarifying that the state supports providers continuing to prescribe, dispense and use mifepristone regardless of the decision issued by the U.S. Supreme Court. Kotek has pledged that Oregon government officials will not extradite individuals for criminal prosecution for receiving, providing or supporting patients seeking reproductive health care in the state.
In Idaho, the Republican-dominated state government has outlawed abortion in nearly all cases. It also became the first state to pass a law making it illegal to help a minor travel to another state for an abortion without parental consent.
“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,” Kotek said.
Oregon is a plaintiff in a competing lawsuit led by Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s office calling on the FDA to lift the restrictions placed on mifepristone’s use. A federal judge in Washington has not ruled on the case, but ordered the FDA not to make any changes to the approval or accessibility of the drug in the meantime.
Including Washington and Oregon, 15 other states and the District of Columbia joined the lawsuit as plaintiffs and are not expected to be affected by the outcome of a Texas-led case while the Washington judge’s order is in place.
Kotek joins Democratic governors of several states across the country who took similar action, including in Washington and Massachusetts. The governors of New York and California stockpiled misoprostol, the second drug in the two-step regimen for abortion and miscarriage care. If misoprostol becomes the only drug patients can access for medication abortion after the court’s decision, they might experience more side effects, such as cramping, nausea, vomiting and fever, health care professionals warn.