Boxes of the drug mifepristone sit on a shelf at the West Alabama Women's Center in Tuscaloosa, Ala., on March 16, 2022. Danco Laboratories is asking the Supreme Court to preserve access to its abortion pill free from restrictions imposed by lower court rulings, while a legal fight continues.
Allen G. Breed / AP
Oregon has secured a three-year supply of mifepristone, the abortion medication at the center of a high-profile fight before the U.S. Supreme Court, Gov. Tina Kotek announced Thursday.
The upshot, Kotek says: Regardless of whatever decision the court comes to regarding whether the drug should be more tightly regulated — or available at all — patients in Oregon will have access for years to come.
“I will make sure that patients are able to access the medication they need and providers are able to provide that medication without unnecessary, politically-motivated interference and intimidation,” Kotek said in a statement. “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.”
According to a release from Kotek’s office, the state is partnering with Oregon Health and Science University to secure 22,500 doses of mifepristone. The governor is also instructing state boards that license medical providers to clarify that the state “supports providers in continuing to provide reproductive health care, consistent with the established standards of care, including prescribing, dispensing and using mifepristone regardless of the upcoming Supreme Court decision in the Texas lawsuit,” the release said.
Kotek’s office said Thursday the doses are already in the state’s possession. It was not clear from the release how they will be distributed to providers.
In 2000, the FDA approved the use of mifepristone to carry out abortions. It is typically taken in tandem with another drug, misoprostol. Currently, more than half of abortions in the U.S. are medication abortions that employ both drugs.
But the availability of mifepristone has been challenged by anti-abortion groups. Earlier this month, a federal judge in Texas ruled that federal approval of the drug should be overturned. An appeals court in New Orleans put part of the ruling on hold, pending appeal, while ruling that access to mifepristone should revert to tighter regulations that existed until 2016. The Supreme Court is currently considering whether to allow restrictions to move forward as the case proceeds. The high court has indicated a decision could come as soon as Friday.
Complicating matters, a federal judge in Washington state issued a very different ruling recently. That decision barred the FDA from making any changes to mifepristone regulation in 17 states and the District of Columbia that had filed suit in his court alleging the FDA has targeted the drug for excessive regulation.
Kotek on Thursday said the rulings hampering access to mifepristone “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.”
“This meritless lawsuit is part of a larger campaign to ban abortion in every state, including those with legal protections for abortion access,” Kotek said. “We cannot afford to stand by and watch our fundamental right to reproductive health care be stripped away.”
With the move, Oregon joins Washington and other states in stockpiling abortion drugs in advance of Supreme Court action. Washington Gov. Jay Inslee announced in early April his state had secured a three-year supply of mifepristone.
The plaintiffs in the Texas case are a coalition of anti-abortion advocacy groups and four physicians who oppose abortion. The suit does not include as plaintiffs anyone who has taken the drug.
The plaintiffs argued that the FDA exceeded its authority when it approved mifepristone in 2000 and that its review and monitoring of the drug’s safety has been inadequate.
The doctors in the case argue they have standing to sue because they have to treat women who experience complications using the medication and need follow-up hospital care, creating a moral conflict and strain on their practice.
Lawyers for the FDA argue that such complications are rare and do not give the plaintiffs standing to sue. They say the drug has been used more than five million times and the agency has held a consistent scientific position on the drug’s safety and efficacy across five presidential administrations.
The most common complication of medication abortion is that it doesn’t work. In that case, a follow-up surgical abortion is required.
In fewer than 1% of cases, medication abortions can cause more serious complications. These include prolonged heavy bleeding, infections and sepsis, and ruptured ectopic pregnancies.
In the U.S., medication abortion has an associated mortality rate of less than 1 in 100,000, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. The mortality rate associated with giving birth is 23.8 deaths per 100,000 live births, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.