ALBANY, N.Y. — Competing rulings by two federal judges over the availability of the abortion drug mifepristone are sowing alarm and confusion for Americans who insist that availability must be guaranteed.
Others celebrated one judge's ruling that would restrict that access but acknowledge the battle is far from over.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said during an interview Saturday on CNN that she would push legislation that would require insurance companies to cover misoprostol.
“We’re also concerned about the next phase. And I think they’re going to be coming after the secondary drug, misoprostol,” Hochul said. “We’re trying to figure out all the different ways we can get ahead of this.”
U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, a Trump appointee in Amarillo, Texas, on Friday overruled decades of scientific approval and put on hold federal approval of mifepristone, one of the most commonly used medications to prevent pregnancies. The judge immediately stayed his ruling for a week so federal authorities could file a challenge.
At about the same time in Spokane, Washington, U.S. District Judge Thomas O. Rice, an Obama appointee, directed federal officials not to hinder access to the drug in at least 17 states where Democrats sued to keep the drug’s availability intact. The issue will likely be settled by the U.S. Supreme Court, which last year repealed Roe v. Wade, the 1973 landmark Supreme Court decision that had established a constitutional right to abortions.
Abortion opponents like Rose Mimms, the executive director of Arkansas Right to Life, welcomed the Texas decision.
“That’s really going to put a big dent in the abortion industry across the country, (but) I do expect it will be appealed,” Mimms said.
While some states like hers have sharply curtailed access to abortions, she wants stricter controls over abortion-inducing medications that can be delivered through the mail, even in states where abortion is illegal or severely restricted.
In his ruling, Kacsmaryk noted how some groups are undermining a state's ability to regulate abortion. He specifically mentioned New York-based Mayday Health, a nonprofit that provides information on how to obtain the medication.
Mayday Health's executive director, Dr. Jennifer Lincoln, urged women to begin stockpiling mifepristone in case it is banned.
“You can order them now and keep mifepristone like you would keep Tylenol. It has a shelf life of about two years,” said Lincoln, a Portland, Oregon, obstetrician and gynecologist. Those seeking the pills can get them from international suppliers through the mail, she said.
Hochul issued a statement on Friday, after the ruling.
"I am horrified by a federal court ruling that seeks to restrict access to Mifepristone, a safe and effective form of abortion medication that has been used by more than 5 million people since the Food and Drug Administration approved it more than two decades ago. This unprecedented ruling not only overrides the FDA's evidence-based scientific approval process, it also alarmingly opens a new door to politicizing medicine.
"I want to be very clear: Regardless of today's ruling, abortion access and care is still available in New York. For anyone who needs care, our state will welcome you with open arms. Additionally, we are working with the federal government, governors, and partners across the country on solutions to prevent further infringement on care. I have also asked the legislature to consider actions to protect other medication abortion, including misoprostol, during current budget negotiations.
"In the wake of the leaked Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe last year, we took proactive steps to protect access to in-clinic care, including making a nation-leading $35 million investment to support abortion providers across the state, and signing a comprehensive legislative package to protect both abortion providers and their patients. Additionally in my proposed FY 2024 Executive Budget, I have proposed increasing Medicaid reimbursement rates and providing $25 million in support to providers, allowing pharmacists to prescribe birth control, implementing data privacy protections, and expanding abortion access on SUNY and CUNY campuses.
"Today's ruling is further evidence that extremists will not just stop at stripping away the right to an abortion. Instead, they are actively working, against the will of a vast majority of Americans, to entirely dismantle reproductive health care nationwide. I will always fight, unafraid and undeterred, to make sure that New York is a safe harbor where abortion rights are protected, and abortion is safe and accessible."