A stockpile of 15,000 abortion pill doses has sat unused over the last year after Democratic Gov. Maura Healey of Massachusetts ordered nearly $700,000 be spent on the medication, the Boston Herald reported Tuesday.
Per a request from Healey, the University of Massachusetts Amherst paid for the doses of mifepristone after a judge in Texas ruled in April 2023 that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) erred in approving measures to expand abortion pill access, according to the Boston Herald. Despite spending nearly $700,000 on the medication, the pills have remained unused after the Texas case ended up at the Supreme Court, which is set to hand down a verdict in the coming weeks. (RELATED: Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry Signs Bill Classifying Abortion Pills As Controlled Substances)
“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,” Karissa Hand, a spokesperson for Healey’s office, told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Gubernatorial nominee Maura Healey speaks to supporters during a “Get Out the Vote” rally at the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center at Roxbury Community College in Boston, Massachusetts, on November 2, 2022. (Photo by JOSEPH PREZIOSO/AFP via Getty Images)
The state’s Department of Public Health also told the Boston Herald that it was waiting for the Supreme Court order before beginning to distribute the pills. The medication has a five-year shelf life.
Pro-life doctors bringing the case to court argued that the FDA’s relaxed restrictions put women at unnecessary risk of complications, including hemorrhaging and major surgery. Supreme Court justices, however, appeared hesitant during oral arguments in March to order the FDA to roll back its decision to allow mifepristone to be sent to patients through the mail without an in-person visit to a doctor.
“This case seems like a prime example of turning what could be a small lawsuit into a nationwide legislative assembly on an FDA rule, or any other federal government action,” Justice Neil Gorsuch said during the proceedings.
Other blue states have also stockpiled abortion pills in the wake of the Texas ruling and the Supreme Court’s decision in June 2022 to overturn Roe v. Wade.
Maryland’s Board of Public Works also ordered in June 2023 that $1.3 million be used to purchase 30,000 doses of mifepristone and 5,000 misoprostol. Demand for abortion pills through services like Aid Access, a European nonprofit that delivers the abortion pill through the mail, skyrocketed to 172 requests a day following the ruling in Texas as opposed to the 89 requests per day prior to the ruling.
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