Gov. Maura Healey’s administration plans to hold onto a virtually $700,000 stockpile price of remedy abortion capsules after the U.S. Supreme Courtroom dominated this month to protect entry to the drug.
Healey teased an announcement on the state’s 15,000-dose-strong stockpile of mifepristone — one in all two medication utilized in remedy abortion — final week after justices shot down an try and overturn federal regulators’ approval of the drug.
In an offhand remark throughout an look on WBUR’s “Radio Boston,” Healey stated the state will “hold onto” the capsules for now, which have a five-year shelf life, had been bought in April 2023, and are within the possession of the Division of Public Health.
“So much is under attack right now and it’s something that Donald Trump is fully behind and running on, supporting. People got to understand this, they want to take away access to abortion, access to medication abortion, access to contraception, access to IVF,” Healey stated. “This is the Republican playbook right now.”
In a press release after the interview, Healey’s spokesperson, Karissa Hand, stated the administration doesn’t plan to eliminate the stockpile.
“With continued attacks on reproductive health care and the threat of another Donald Trump presidency, we will continue to keep the mifepristone stockpile to ensure we are prepared to protect access if there are further efforts to restrict medication abortion,” Hand stated.
The stockpile has sat immobile for greater than a yr after it was bought. Administration officers stated they had been ready for the Supreme Courtroom ruling and deliberate to “evaluate next steps” primarily based on what justices determined.
Entry to mifepristone remained out there after a case towards the drug shifted into the fingers of the Supreme Courtroom, the place justices in the end dominated that opponents of the remedy lacked the authorized standing to sue the FDA.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh argued the federal courts had been the “wrong forum for addressing” considerations in regards to the remedy.
“The plaintiffs may present their concerns and objections to the president and FDA in the regulatory process, or to Congress and the president in the legislative process. And they may also express their views about abortion and mifepristone to fellow citizens, including in the political and electoral processes,” he wrote.
