Governor Hochul says New York stockpiling abortion pill
NEW YORK (WABC) -- It's the word abortion rights advocates outside the Supreme Court were waiting to hear Friday - for the next week, women across the country will have access to the drug Mifepristone, which aids in abortions.
Half of all abortions in the United States are done with the use of the drug.
Last week, a federal judge in Texas ordered a hold on the FDA's approval of the drug.
The drug has come into question in a lawsuit the judge is overseeing, brought forth by an anti-abortion group against the FDA.
Mifepristone was first approved by the FDA in 2000.
The judge wrote in a memo to the parties, "FDA acquiesced on its legitimate safety concerns - in violation of its statutory duty - based on plainly unsound reasoning and studies that did not support its conclusions."
For the last week - states across the country including Washington have been stockpiling their supply of mifepristone as the fate of the drug remained unclear.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul says the state is stockpiling 150 thousand doses of misoprostol which can also be used to terminate pregnancies.
Hochul is also proposing the state set aside an additional 20 million dollars for abortion services after the Florida legislature just passed a six-week abortion ban.
Hochul released a statement on Friday saying,
"The rulings regarding abortion medication access from various courts over the past two weeks have caused confusion and anxiety for millions of Americans. The decision by the Supreme Court to temporarily maintain the status quo will provide at least a temporary respite as the appeals process moves forward. The fight is certainly not yet over, and so long as I am New York's Attorney General I will use every tool as my disposal to protect medication abortion access and the rights of all New Yorkers."
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