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Various liberal US states, including California and Massachusetts, have begun stockpiling abortion medications following Texas judge Matthew Kacsmaryk’s attempt to invalidate the long-standing approval of mifepristone, one of the pills used in medication abortions.

Currently, mifepristone remains available, however Democratic governors in Massachusetts and Washington state have secured emergency supplies of the drug, while California’s governor has secured a supply of misoprostol.

Massachusetts governor Maura Healey, said: “A judge has made a politically motivated decision to override doctors, patients and medical experts and block access to critical medications. Today, we are collectively saying loud and clear: not on our watch.”

The Biden administration lawyers were expecting a decision by 13 April, one day ahead of the lower court’s decision taking effect. If the justice department fails to make this decision, the lawyers are expected to take the case to the Supreme Court.

It is still unclear how the justice department or the Supreme Court would rule and how mifepristone would be restricted if the FDA is forced to revoke its approval, however the current uncertainty is worrying for many. More than half of US abortions use mifepristone and misoprostol, so this decision could mark the biggest blow to abortion since the overturning of Roe vs Wade last year.

Erin Hawley stated in the Texas lawsuit that the FDA has put women in harm’s way ‘by illegally approving dangerous chemical abortion drugs, and imposing its mail-order abortion regime. […] Pregnancy is not an illness, and chemical abortions don’t provide a therapeutic benefit.’ However, Lawrence Gostin, a professor of global health law at Georgetown University, commented: “If the FDA can’t approve this drug [mifepristone], I’m not sure what the FDA can approve. It’s been on the market for over two decades, it’s got an impeccable health and safety record.”