Hochul moves to protect medication abortion in New York ‘regardless of FDA approval’
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul speaks to reporters about legislation passed during a special legislative session in the Red Room at the state Capitol, Friday, July 1, 2022, in Albany, N.Y.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) announced new protections for access to medication abortions in the state regardless of the outcome of the legal battle over the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) approval of mifepristone.
The governor’s office said in a release on Wednesday that the steps are included in the state’s fiscal 2024 budget. The budget will require private insurance companies to cover “recognized abortion medication methods, regardless of FDA approval” and when prescribed off-label for abortion services.
A drug is prescribed off-label when it is used for a disease or medical condition that it has not been approved to treat, according to the FDA.
The measure also is designed to prevent medical providers from being charged higher medical malpractice rates or losing their coverage from prescribing medications that are off-label or have not received FDA approval.
Mifepristone, the first of a two-pill regimen, has become the latest front for the battle over abortion access throughout the country. U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk suspended the FDA’s approval of the drug, which came in 2000, last month after ruling that the agency improperly rushed the approval process.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit paused part of the ruling while it hears an appeal from the federal government, but it allowed part of the ruling to remain that rolled back steps the FDA has implemented to make accessing the drug easier.
The Supreme Court then put the entire ruling on hold and ordered the status quo to stay while the Biden administration appeal plays out.
More than half of all abortions performed in the country are done with medication.
“As anti-choice extremists and judges continue to roll back abortion rights across the country, we are fighting back here in New York,” Hochul said in the release. “These initiatives and funding will boost abortion access across the state, protect women seeking reproductive health care and expand access to abortion medication. Under my watch, I will continue to ensure that New York remains a safe harbor for those in need of abortion care.”
Whether insurers will cover mifepristone if it loses FDA approval is unclear, but the pill could be pulled from the market if the FDA’s approval is ultimately reversed.
Hochul has directed the New York State Health Department to stockpile a five-year supply of misoprostol, the other approved abortion pill, to meet anticipated needs in the state. The stockpile would include 150,000 doses.
The budget will also provide more than $100 million in additional funding to support abortion providers and reproductive health care, increase Medicaid reimbursement rates for reproductive health care providers and implement data protection measures to safeguard patients’ privacy.
The release states that the budget would prevent companies that are headquartered or incorporated in New York from sharing information about legal abortion procedures with out-of-state law enforcement officials.