Pills of Misoprostol, used to terminate early pregnancies, are displayed in a pharmacy in Provo, Utah, May 12, 2022.
George Frey | Reuters
Recent York and California are stockpiling massive quantities of an alternate abortion medication in case a federal judge’s order suspending the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the primary drug mifepristone goes into effect later this week.
Recent York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Tuesday ordered the state health department to instantly start purchasing 150,000 doses of misoprostol, a five-year supply of the pill. Hochul’s announcement comes a day after Gov. Gavin Newsom said California has secured 2 million pills of misoprostol.
Medication abortions are essentially the most common strategy to terminate a pregnancy the U.S. Patients typically use a two drug-regimen wherein mifepristone is taken first, followed by misoprostol. The second pill is used as a standalone abortion medication in parts of the world.
Misoprostol is FDA approved to treat gastric ulcers, so it’ll remain in the marketplace if U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk’s order suspending mifepristone takes effect at 12 a.m. central time on Saturday.
“One judge in Amarillo, Texas thinks he knows higher than 1000’s of doctors and scientists and experts. And never to say the countless women who’ve used this medication safely for many years,” Hochul said during a press conference with Planned Parenthood’s Recent York chapter Tuesday.
“This is not just an attack on abortion, it’s an attack on democracy. Courts have never before revoked a science backed decision made by the FDA,” the governor said.
Hochul said she is working with Recent York’s legislature to require private insurers to cover misoprostol when it’s prescribed off-label for abortions.
The Justice Department and Danco Laboratories, the distributor of mifepristone, have asked the U.S. fifth Circuit Court of Appeals to dam Kacsmaryk’s ruling by noon Thursday.
The World Health Organization and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommend misoprostol as a standalone abortion medication when the two-drug regimen is just not available. But misoprostol is just not as effective when it’s used by itself, in accordance with obstetricians and gynecologists.
The FDA has approved the two-drug abortion regimen through the tenth week of pregnancy. Mifepristone stops the pregnancy from developing further by blocking a hormone called progesterone. Misoprostol induces contractions that vacant the uterus.
Patients take 200 milligrams of mifepristone by mouth on day one, after which take 800 micrograms of misoprostol within the cheek pouch 24 to 48 hours later, in accordance with the FDA’s label.
