A high-stakes legal battle last year over a widely used abortion pill prompted California to stockpile one of two drugs used in medication abortions.
Last April, state leaders bought more than 250,000 pills of misoprostol. The Governor’s Office said creating the reserve would continue to enable access to medication abortions in California in case the other key drug was restricted by the courts.
But now, with about a year left on its shelf life, California’s stockpile of misoprostol needs to be used before it expires.
That’s why state health officials are expediting distribution of the medication within the next few months. Some is expected to go to California’s 33 public university health clinics, which are required by state law to provide medication abortions to students. A recent LAist investigation found that over the past year, many of the state’s public universities had failed to let students know the service was available.
The state estimates the stockpile is enough for about 12,000 doses. The move will help stock shelves before supply could tighten this spring, when the U.S. Supreme Court reenters the abortion debate.
Why did California buy the pills?
Last April, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the state spent $100,000 to buy the medication after access to another abortion drug, mifepristone, was put in legal jeopardy by a Texas district judge’s ruling.
The court sided with anti-abortion rights groups that sued the Food and Drug Administration over its approval of the abortion pill, mifepristone. The judge issued a ruling that would invalidate the drug’s approval nationwide. However, a district judge in Washington state issued…
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