Misoprostol pills, used to terminate early pregnancies, displayed at a pharmacy in Provo, Utah, May 12, 2022.
George Frey | Reuters
New York and California are stockpiling massive amounts of different abortion drugs in case a federal judge’s order suspending the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the essential drug mifepristone goes into effect this week.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul on Tuesday ordered the state health department to right away begin purchasing 150,000 doses of misoprostol, a five-year supply of the pill. Hochul’s statement comes a day after Governor Gavin Newsom said California has secured 2 million pills misoprostol.
Medical abortions are essentially the most common option to terminate a pregnancy. US patients typically use a two-drug regimen with mifepristone first followed by misoprostol. The second pill is used as a standalone abortion drug in some parts of the world.
Misoprostol is FDA-approved for the treatment of stomach ulcers, so it’s going to remain in the marketplace if U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk’s decision to suspend mifepristone goes into effect at 12:00 noon Central Time on Saturday.
“One judge in Amarillo, Texas, thinks he knows higher than hundreds of doctors, scientists and experts. Not to say countless women who’ve used the drug safely for many years,” Hochul said during a press conference with Planned Parenthood New York on Tuesday.
“This will not be just an attack on abortion, it’s an attack on democracy. The courts have never before overturned a science-based decision by the FDA,” the governor said.
Hochul said she is working with the New York legislature to require private insurers to cover the associated fee of misoprostol when it’s prescribed off-label for abortion.
The Department of Justice and Danco Laboratories, the distributor of mifepristone, asked the U.S. fifth Circuit Court of Appeals to dam Kacsmaryk’s ruling until Thursday noon.
The World Health Organization and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommend misoprostol as a standalone abortion medication when a two-drug regimen will not be available. But misoprostol will not be as effective when used alone, by obstetricians and gynecologists.
The FDA approved a two-factor abortion regimen as much as 10 weeks of gestation. Mifepristone stops the pregnancy from progressing further by blocking a hormone called progesterone. Misoprostol causes contractions that vacant the uterus.
Patients take 200 milligrams of mifepristone by mouth on the primary day, followed by 800 milligrams of misoprostol in a buccal pouch 24 to 48 hours later, in line with the FDA label.