As the U.S. government appeals a decision made by a Texas federal judge to halt the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval of a key abortion drug, local providers remain hopeful that the ruling will not impede upcoming abortion care services on the Island.
On Monday, Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healy issued an executive order, reaffirming state protections of access to mifepristone, a medication that’s been prescribed for safely terminating pregnancies for decades.
“Here in Massachusetts, we are not going to let one extremist judge in Texas turn back the clock on this proven medication and restrict access to care in our state,” Healy said in a press release issued Monday. “The action we are taking today protects access to mifepristone in Massachusetts, and protects patients and providers from liability. In Massachusetts, we stand for civil rights and freedom. We will always protect access to reproductive health care, including medication abortion.”
Mifepristone is a widely used drug that can end a pregnancy within the first 10 weeks of gestation, and is typically combined with another drug, misoprostol.
Despite the precarity of the federal court case, Health Imperatives Martha’s Vineyard — which was recently awarded state funding via the Baker-Polito administration to enhance abortion care access — still plans on being able to provide medical abortions for the first time on-Island, beginning in July.
President and CEO of Health Imperatives Julia Kehoe told The Times Tuesday that although what’s happening in federal court is “disturbing,” she’s hopeful that it will not affect the clinic’s plans to offer mifepristone for medical abortions.
“We’re so glad that we live in Massachusetts, and we have a governor and legislature who are doing everything they can to protect a woman’s right to choose,” Kehoe said.
Health Imperatives has already purchased additional doses of mifepristone in the event of a shortage, or if the ban is ultimately upheld.
“So if the ban does go through, and we’re hoping legal challenges will prevent it, we will be offering [misoprostol] as an alternative, which is still safe and effective,” Kehoe said.
Healey’s executive order issued Monday comes nearly a year after the Supreme Court’s overturning the 1973 decision Roe v. Wade — a landmark ruling protecting a women’s right to choose to terminate a pregnancy. Since then, Massachusetts officials have continued to affirm protections of abortion providers and preserve access to the procedure.
Following Texas Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk’s decision to ban mifepristone on Friday, Healy’s office announced plans for ensuring reproductive health care access.
At Healy’s request, University of Massachusetts Amherst began stockpiling the drug, in the event of a potential shortage of mifepristone, ordering around 15,000 doses that could later be distributed around the state, a press release issued Monday states.
This plan also extends to other providers, who have been encouraged to purchase additional quantities of the medication. The Healy-Driscoll administration has earmarked $1 million to help support those orders.
Monday’s executive order upholds and clarifies legislation passed last year aimed at protecting abortion providers from lawsuits filed outside the state.
At a press conference at the State House Monday, Gov. Healey emphasized the efforts to allow for abortion care access statewide. “I just want to be clear with the people in Massachusetts, abortion medication will remain safe, legal and accessible here in the commonwealth,” she said.
“Abortion medication will remain safe, legal and accessible here in the commonwealth”. Is there not enough killing of innocent lives in the world?
Killing is human nature.
That is why we have so many guns.
Unlike abortion medication, childbirth in this country is a risky proposition. How many of the men chanting “my body, my choice,” when it came to the vaccine want to force women to carry unwanted babies? Most women I know can relate an instance of medical ineptitude during pregnancy, usually caused by physician arrogance or overwork. Then, there’s the sheer cost of pre- and postnatal care.
From the BBC News:
The United States remains one of the most dangerous wealthy nations for a woman to give birth.
Maternal mortality rose by 40% at the height of the pandemic, according to new data released by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In 2021, 33 women died out of every 100,000 live births in the US, up from 23.8 in 2020.
That rate was more than double for black women, who were nearly three times more likely to die than white women, according to the CDC.
Compared to other countries, the maternal mortality rate was twice as high in the US than in the UK, Germany and France; and three times higher than in Spain, Italy, Japan and several other countries, according to the most recent global comparison data kept by the World Bank.
Well Dana– you and I both know the reason behind these relatively high death rates is because the so called “right to life” republicans have some sort of irrational phobia about planned parenthood. Couple that with demonstrable misogyny and implicit racism, and in some cases outright racism on their part, it’s actually pretty remarkable the death rate is not higher.
Thanks for doing the research and posting some real numbers-
Comments are closed.