Gov. Healey Orders Stockpile Of Mifepristone In MA After Judicial Rulings

BOSTON, MA — Gov. Maura Healey on Monday ordered the University of Massachusetts and state health care providers to stockpile doses of mifepristone, an abortion pill whose availability is uncertain following two conflicting federal rulings on Friday.

According to Healey, UMass purchased 15,000 mifepristone doses last week, which could last a year. Private health care companies also agreed to purchase additional doses, the Healey administration said.

Healey also issued an executive order Monday confirmed that an abortion shield law passed in 2022 ensures access to mifepristone. That law would protect abortion-seekers who travel to Massachusetts for their healthcare needs.

"The action we are taking today protects access to mifepristone in Massachusetts and protects patients and providers from liability. In Massachusetts, we stand for civil rights and freedom. We will always protect access to reproductive health care, including medication abortion," Healey said Monday.

Access to mifepristone was plunged into uncertainty Friday following court rulings over the legality of the abortion medication, which has been widely available for more than 20 years.

For now, the drug the Food and Drug Administration approved 23 years ago appeared to remain at least immediately available in the wake of two separate rulings that were issued in quick succession by federal judges in Texas and Washington.

U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, a Trump appointee, ordered a hold on FDA approval of mifepristone in a decision that overruled decades of scientific approval. But that decision came at nearly the same time that U.S. District Judge Thomas O. Rice, an Obama appointee, essentially ordered the opposite and directed U.S. authorities not to make any changes that would restrict access to the drug in at least 17 states where Democrats sued in an effort to protect availability.

Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell joined a group of 24 other attorneys general in a brief challenging Kacsmaryk's ruling.

"In their newest attempt to eliminate access to abortion, right-wing extremists have set their targets on mifepristone — an abortion medication that, for the last 23 years, has proven safe and effective through decades of research and widespread usage," Campbell said in a news release. "My colleagues and I will continue to fight to protect abortion access and use the full legal authority of our respective offices to uphold individuals’ essential and constitutional right to reproductive healthcare."

Healey already pledged over the weekend to ensure mifepristone access here. Just weeks ago, Healey directed pharmacists across the state to keep the abortion pill on hand, or face possible penalties from the state the Board of Registration in Pharmacy.

"I won’t let a Trump-appointed, anti-abortion judge in Texas stand in the way of mifepristone access in Massachusetts," Healey said in a tweet Saturday.

Material from the Associated Press was used in this article.