Two other Democratic governors secured stockpiles of mifepristone. Why didn’t Newsom?

Last Friday’s decision by a Texas-based, Trump-appointed federal judge to halt the FDA’s approval of the widely-used medication abortion drug mifepristone was all but inevitable as far back as November, when a coalition of anti-abortion groups filed their lawsuit.

U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk heard oral arguments in the case nearly a month ago.

The states of Washington and Massachusetts took steps to stockpile mifepristone. Washington Gov. Jay Inslee announced last week that the state had purchased a three-year supply that was delivered March 31. Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey on Monday said that her state has acquired 15,000 doses of the drug.

(Hours after Kacsmaryk’s decision, another federal judge ordered the FDA not to make any changes to mifepristone’s availability, framing up a fight likely to reach the US. Supreme Court.)

On Monday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced creation of a 2-million pill stockpile of the abortion drug misoprostol. While misoprostol can be used by itself to manage a medicated abortion, it is less effective than mifepristone and misoprostol taken together, according to the World Health Organization and other medical authorities.

So why didn’t Newsom stockpile the drug targeted by the lawsuit? Legal affairs deputy secretary Julia Spiegel told The Bee that unlike mifepristone, misoprostol is not “in the crosshairs” of the anti-abortion movement. The drug is also used in treatment of stomach ulcers.

“This is not a choose one or the other scenario, we are fighting on all fronts here,” Spiegel said.

Spiegel said that Monday’s announcement was months in the making. Plans to form a stockpile of abortion medication pre-dated even the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, which overturned Roe v. Wade and empowered conservative state legislatures to pass bans and restrictions.

She said that California has coordinated with the 21-state Reproductive Freedom Alliance to make sure as many people have equitable access to abortion medication as possible.

“This is an insurance plan, it is a backup reserve that we can use in the event of a shortage,” she said.

Newsom spokesman Brandon Richards said that the state has thus far secured 250,000 doses of misoprostol. The state opted to start with a quarter million doses in order to avoid the perception of an abortion pill shortage, Richards said.

“California is purchasing and securing misoprostol to ensure people across California and the country know medication abortion will remain accessible and affordable regardless of what happens in the courts. And we will continue to fight this battle on multiple fronts,” Richards said in an email statement.

Meanwhile, another federal judge in Washington issued a separate ruling Friday that ordered the FDA not to make any changes to the availability of mifepristone, setting up a legal battle expected to reach the US. Supreme Court.