Governor Kathy Hochul signs abortion rights package (June 13, 2022)

Governor Kathy Hochul has announced that the State will stockpile an abortion medication as part of ongoing efforts to protect access to abortion.

At the Governor’s direction, the New York State Department of Health will immediately begin purchasing Misoprostol in order to stockpile 150,000 doses, a five-year supply, in order to meet anticipated needs.

A federal judge in Texas ruled on April 7 to reverse the U.S. Food and Drug Administration‘s approval of mifepristone, an oral medication typically taken with misoprostol to end a pregnancy.

Conservative Christian legal advocacy group, Alliance Defending Freedom, requested the reversal in a lawsuit that said mifepristone is unsafe and that the FDA didn’t study it closely enough before approving its use. The FDA and mainstream medical doctors insist this isn’t true, and that there have been no safety concerns during the 23 years the drug has been on the market.
An injunction by the federal judge to ban mifepristone starting April 14 may impact as many as 64 million women of childbearing age in the U.S.

Hocul issued a statement saying, “Anti-choice extremists have shown that they are not stopping at overturning Roe, and they are working to entirely dismantle our country’s reproductive health care system, including medication abortion and contraception. New York will always be a safe harbor for abortion care, and I am taking action to protect abortion access in our State and continue to lead the nation in defending the right to reproductive autonomy.”

Hochul also announced that if the abortion medication Mifepristone is taken off the market, the State will commit up to an additional $20 million to providers to support access to other methods of care.

To further safeguard access to abortion medication, Hochul is also currently working with the State Legislature on new legislation to require private insurers to cover Misoprostol when it’s prescribed off-label for abortion and to ensure that no provider is charged increased medical malpractice coverage rates or loses coverage due to prescribing Misoprostol off-label.