In case you missed it, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and other governors of the Reproductive Freedom Alliance issued a statement in response to the U.S. Supreme Court hearing oral arguments in Food and Drug Administration, et al., v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, the most significant abortion rights case since this same Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.
Inslee has been a leader on the fight to protect reproductive freedoms in the wake of the SCOTUS decision that overturned Roe v. Wade. Inslee was the first governor to stockpile the abortion drug mifepristone ahead of the lower federal court ruling out of Texas that is now before the Supreme Court. If those seeking to block access to this long-proven medication succeed, Washington state has a 3-year supply it can still distribute in the state.
"Here we have a very safe product. It reduces the trauma women experience ending a pregnancy," said Inslee on the podcast Pantsuit Politics on Tuesday. "And yet these forces want to drag us back 100 years or so to ignore the clear science."
The governor has also helped pass legislation protecting consumer health data; a shield law protecting patients and providers from out-of-state prosecutions; and the elimination of cost-sharing for abortions to increase equitable access to services.
Inslee appeared on MSNBC this morning to talk about the significance of the mifepristone case as part of an ongoing assault on reproductive freedom being carried out by Republicans.
"We have to be observant, aggressive and protective of this freedom right, or it will be lost," Inslee told Chris Jansing.
Full press release from the Reproductive Freedom Alliance:
Reproductive Freedom Alliance Statement on FDA Authority & Access to Safe Abortion Medication Oral Arguments at U.S. Supreme Court
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Food and Drug Administration, et al., v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, the most significant abortion rights case since this same Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. If the Supreme Court upholds the Fifth Circuit’s extreme ruling, severe impacts will be felt across the country: 1) there will be swift restrictions on access to the medication abortion, Mifepristone – one of two medications used in the most common medication abortion regimens in states where abortion is still legal, 2) undermine the Food and Drug Administration’s authority, 3) and hamstring the ability of Governors to protect the public health of their constituents.
“Any rollback on access to mifepristone would cause major disruptions to state health care systems, further strain providers, and pose serious health risks to millions of women,” said the Reproductive Freedom Alliance, a non-partisan coalition of 22 Governors committed to reproductive freedom.
The Alliance filed an amicus in the case, arguing that the Supreme Court could inflict enormous disruptions to state health care systems – and real harm to countless women – while also setting a dangerous precedent by allowing ideological extremists to overrule medical experts and decades of scientific evidence.
As the amicus notes, “If the Court affirms the decision below, the upshot will be harm all around: harm to women, particularly rural and low-income women, who will be required to visit in-person clinics simply to take a prescription medication, or may not be able to access mifepristone for abortion or miscarriage management at all; harm to providers, clinics, and health systems, who will be overwhelmed with demand; harm to Governors, whose critical tools to safeguard public health will be unnecessarily curbed; and harm to the public fisc, which will bear the brunt of many of the economic costs of the decision.”
A link to the full amicus brief can be found here.
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The Reproductive Freedom Alliance is a non-partisan coalition of 22 Governors committed to protecting and expanding reproductive freedom in our states. Members include: Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs, California Governor Gavin Newsom, Colorado Governor Jared Polis, Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont, Delaware Governor John Carney, Guam Governor Lourdes A. Leon Guerrero, Hawai'i Governor Josh Green, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, Maine Governor Janet Mills, Maryland Governor Wes Moore, Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, New York Governor Kathy Hochul, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper, Oregon Governor Tina Kotek, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, Rhode Island Governor Daniel McKee, Washington Governor Jay Inslee, and Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers.