A stockpile in Massachusetts of widely-used abortion pills has sat dormant over the year-plus since Gov. Maura Healey directed her administration to spend nearly $700,000 on 15,000 doses in the face of a legal challenge to the medication, according to health officials.
Healey moved last April to buy a year’s worth of mifepristone in the event of a shortage after a Texas judge suspended federal approval of the drug. Access to the pill has remained available after the case shifted into the hands of the U.S. Supreme Court, where justices put the Texas ruling on hold until a final decision is handed down.
A spokesperson for Healey, Karissa Hand, said the governor “took action” last year to make sure mifepristone remains available in Massachusetts as access to medication abortion was threatened.
“We have preserved these doses as the case remains pending before the Supreme Court and mifepristone remains legal and accessible. We will evaluate next steps based on the court’s ruling, but no matter what, mifepristone and access to reproductive health care will remain protected in Massachusetts,” Hand said in a statement.
A spokesperson for the Department of Public Health said the administration plans to “take steps to distribute the stockpile” based on the final ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court and officials have no plans to order more doses. A decision is expected in June.
Healey turned to the University of Massachusetts Amherst to purchase the pills — which have a five-year shelf life — because the institution had the necessary certifications in place to order mifepristone and already provides the drug through its health services.
University leaders said at the time that ensuring access “to safe, effective, reproductive healthcare for the residents of Massachusetts is fully aligned with UMass Amherst’s longstanding mission to serve the commonwealth.”
UMass Amherst spokesperson Ed Blaguszewski said the entire shipment of mifepristone was handed off to the Department of Public Health within a few days of its arrival.
“None of it is being stored at UMass. There have been no further requests by the state for additional purchases,” Blaguszewski said in a statement.
Supreme Court justices in March heard about 90 minutes of oral arguments in a case that looks to overturn the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s decades-old approval of mifepristone. A ruling for opponents of the drug could stop the delivery of the medication by mail and at major pharmacies.
Justices appeared skeptical of the case, which was initially brought only five months after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, and some seemed to think the lower courts had overreached.
“I’m worried that there is a significant mismatch in this case between the claimed injury and the remedy that’s being sought and that that might or should matter for standing purposes,” Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said in March.
Taylor St. Germain, a spokesperson for Reproductivity Equity Now, said the organization is “proud” of Healey’s “bold and proactive steps” to stockpile mifepristone ahead of the Supreme Court’s ruling.
“In a post-Roe world, protected states like ours need to go on offense to protect and expand access to essential reproductive health care, and Massachusetts stands ready to get this medication into the hands of providers and patients when a decision comes down this June,” she said.
Materials from the Associated Press were used in this report.
