Photo: Matthew Dae Smith ~ USA TODAY NETWORK
NOVI, April 12, 2023 ~ Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer said she would consider stockpiling abortion medication following conflicting federal court rulings on a Food and Drug Administration approval.
On Tuesday, Whitmer said she is exploring options to ensure access to abortion medication following a recent ruling from a Texas federal judge that blocked a 23-year-old FDA approval of the abortion drug mifepristone. Late Wednesday, a federal appeals court allowed the FDA approval to stay, but kept other parts of the Texas ruling, making it more likely the case will be decided on by the US Supreme Court.
Elements left in place by the 5th Circuit Court include revoking of the FDA’s approval of non-doctors prescribing mifepristone and the ability for it to be mailed.
PODCAST:
April 12, 2023 ~ WJR Senior News Analyst Marie Osborne talks about how Governor Gretchen Whitmer may consider stockpiling mifepristone after a federal judge in Texas orders it off the market. A new poll shows a majority of US residents are against outlawing the medication.
(CONTINUED) “My job will be to ensure that we do everything we can to ensure that the realm of safe alternatives is available,” Whitmer said in the Detroit News. “We will continue to explore any way that we can do that, including that (stockpiling mifepristone) as a possibility.”
Mifepristone is a drug that is used to end pregnancies at about 10 weeks or fewer and to help treat miscarriages. Another federal judge in Washington state made a ruling the same day as the Texas ruling regarding the case Washington v. FDA. The Washington judge ruled that the FDA cannot make any changes to access of mifepristone in the 17 states and the District of Columbia involved with the lawsuit, which includes Michigan.Three states so far, including California, Massachusetts and Washington, have already started stockpiling mifepristone, according to an article from Truthout.
Michigan voters last year approved a ballot initiative that codified reproductive rights into the state constitution, along with Whitmer recently signing a repeal to the state’s 1931 abortion ban.
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