Washington state stocks up on three-year supply of abortion pills ahead of Texas court ruling

The state of Washington has secured a three-year supply of abortion pills in anticipation of a nationwide ban.

The Democratic-run state has received a shipment of 30,000 doses of generic mifepristone, one of two drugs used to induce an abortion at home.

The move is a direct response to a pending lawsuit in Texas overseen by federal judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, who is considering whether to revoke the FDA’s approval of the drugs in an unprecedented move.

Abortion rights advocates gathered in front of the Texas courthouse on the day of oral arguments to voice their opposition to the plaintiff’s argument that mifepristone was wrongfully approved

If he does move to revoke the approval, it would effectively end the ability of providers or pharmacists nationwide to purchase the medication and kick off a lengthy process by the FDA to re-approve the drug. 

By purchasing the medication now, the state government is ensuring the medication will remain available to providers and patients in Washington, regardless of the imminent Texas ruling.

Washington Gov Jay Inslee said on Tuesday that he had directed the state Department of Corrections, which is authorized to act as a pharmacy, to buy up thousands of pills. 

State lawmakers unveiled legislation that gives the DOC the power to distribute or sell the medication to licensed health providers across the state.

Gov Inslee’s actions are aligned with those of Attorney General Bob Ferguson who is leading a multistate lawsuit in federal court that aims to further ease restrictions on the medication.

Gov Inslee said at a press conference Tuesday: ‘This Texas lawsuit is a clear and present danger to patients and providers all across the country. Washington will not sit by idly and risk the devastating consequences of inaction.

‘Washington is a pro-choice state and no Texas judge will order us otherwise.’

Mifepristone and its companion misoprostol have accounted for more than half of abortions nationwide, and about 60 percent in Washington specifically.

Mifepristone, when used in combination with misoprostol has been shown to be safe and effective at terminating a pregnancy within about 10 weeks of the woman’s last period. 

More than a dozen states have restricted access to abortions following the overturning of Roe V Wade

More than 5.6 million women have successfully used medication abortion since the drug’s approval 23 years ago, according to the Food and Drug Administration.

A 2012 meta-analysis of 87 clinical trials published in the journal Contraception affirmed that medication abortion is generally safe.

In the study, serious complications such as severe vaginal bleeding, pelvic pain, or infection requiring hospitalization occurred in less than 0.3 percent of patients.

Studies show mifepristone is safer and sends fewer people to the emergency department than Tylenol and Viagra.

The pills have become a culture war fixture in the wake of the 2022 Supreme Court decision revoking a federal right to an abortion.

With that decision, the high court delegated abortion policy-making power to individual states. 

Abortion pills, which are appealing in part because they can be taken in a woman’s home rather than at a clinic or hospital, were then made the focus of conflict in a contentious legal landscape.

The Texas case could be decided any day now. Judge Kacsmaryk is widely expected to rule in favor of the anti-abortion movement – a staunch Christian and Trump ally.

He made hints during the hearing at which direction he was leaning, such as when he referred to medication abortion as ‘chemical abortion’ and ‘mail-in abortion,’ terminology that fits into the conservative Christian lexicon but not the medical community.

Abortion has been legal in Washington since 1970 thanks to a voter-approved ballot initiative.