The governor of Washington, Jay Inslee, said on Tuesday that the state had purchased a three-year supply of abortion pills in anticipation of a court decision that may restrict their availability.
Inslee, a Democrat, stated that he ordered the Department of Corrections to purchase 30,000 pills of the generic version of mifepristone, a prominent abortion pill, in preparation for a court decision that could restrict its availability.
The purchase in bulk costs around $1.28 million, or $42.50 per pill.
The supply was delivered last month, according to the Democratic governor.
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Mifepristone combined with misoprostol is the most prevalent method of abortion in the United States. Critics assert that mifepristone was wrongly approved by the Food and Drug Administration of the United States more than two decades ago.
In a dispute before the Texas District Court, Alliance Defending Freedom sought that the FDA cancel or postpone the drug’s approval.
Appointed by former President Donald Trump, U.S. District Court Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk heard arguments in March on the drug’s safety and the FDA’s approval of mifepristone.
Roe v. Wade was overturned by the United States Supreme Court in 2022. The judgment eliminated abortion’s constitutional protections and permitted governments to legislate its legality.
Kacsmaryk stated that he would provide a decision “as soon as practicable” but did not specify how he would decide.
Inslee, a critic of the Texas case, purchased the medicine in order to make it more accessible to women seeking abortions.
Inslee stated in a statement that the lawsuit is a clear and present risk to patients and providers across the nation. “Washington will not sit quietly by and risk the catastrophic results of inactivity.”
Moreover, Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson is assisting in leading a multistate lawsuit to relax limitations on the medicine further.
The case, which was filed in February with Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum, asserts that the FDA has singled out mifepristone for overly stringent regulation.
The pro-abortion states have petitioned the court to declare certain FDA limits on mifepristone to be unconstitutional and to halt their enforcement.
Legislators from the state of Washington are introducing legislation that will empower the Department of Prisons to sell or distribute the state’s drug stockpile throughout the state.
Since a 1970 statewide referendum, abortion has been legal in Washington, and the state has taken significant steps to expand abortion availability.
The Democratic-controlled Washington legislature is expected to enact additional abortion legislation later this year.
