New York elected officials are unifying to protect a woman’s right to abortion medication after the latest federal court ruling put such access in jeopardy across the country.
Governor Kathy Hochul, Mayor Eric Adams, Attorney General Letitia James, and Speaker Adrienne Adams all reassured New Yorkers in recent days that they will fight the court ruling and continue supporting abortion in the days to come.
Last Friday, April 7, federal judge Matthew Kacsmaryk of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas ruled in the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. FDA court case that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s approval of mifepristone is illegal. The Justice Department has since appealed the ruling, which could eventually make its way to the U.S. Supreme Court — whose conservative majority last year overturned the nearly 50-year-old Roe v. Wade ruling protecting reproductive rights.
Hochul announced on April 11 during a virtual conference organized by Planned Parenthood of Greater New York that the state’s Department of Health will immediately begin purchasing and stockpiling a five-year supply, equivalent to 150,000 doses, of misoprostol.
Mifepristone is a medication that prevents pregnancy by blocking a hormone called progesterone within 10 weeks from an individual’s last period. Misoprostol is typically used in combination with mifepristone, but can also be used by itself, according to the World Health Organization.
“When it comes to reproductive freedom in this country, we are right now facing historic, horrific setbacks,” Hochul said at the conference. “Now, the MAGA anti-abortion extremists, legislators, and judges alike are hell-bent on continuing down this path. They’re coming after all forms of reproductive health care.”
Attorney General James formed a multi-state coalition with 22 attorneys general in March to defend and protect access to medication abortion nationwide. The coalition filed an amicus brief to…
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