Washington Governor Jay Inslee stands on the tarmac while traveling to an event in Walla Walla, Washington, U.S., September 18, 2024. REUTERS/Matt Mills McKnight
OLYMPIA, Washington (Reuters) - Washington state's first-in-the-nation stockpile of abortion drugs will serve as insurance against future lawsuits seeking to ban the procedure nationwide or a second presidential term for Republican Donald Trump, Governor Jay Inslee said.
Last year, with a federal lawsuit seeking to restrict access to abortion medication nationwide, Inslee, a Democrat, ordered the state's Department of Corrections to use its pharmacy license to purchase 30,000 doses of the abortion drug mifepristone.
The U.S. Supreme Court rejected the case in June, keeping mifepristone on the market. But the ruling left the door open to further legal challenges, and abortion rights advocates warn that the medication remains at risk.
In an interview with Reuters, Inslee, 73, said the state would maintain its stockpile pending the result of the Nov. 5 presidential election between Trump and Democratic U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris.
"The Supreme Court decision was not definitive in protecting mifepristone," Inslee told Reuters at the governor's mansion in Olympia. "This is a long-term threat. Those who want to take away reproductive health for women, they're not going to stop last week, this week or next week. It is a multi-decade effort."
Trump has sometimes taken a muddled position on abortion, including mifepristone, commonly prescribed as part of a two-drug regimen to end early pregnancies. In August, the former president suggested he might be open to directing the Food and Drug Administration to revoke access to the drug if he wins the election, though his campaign later said he would not seek to do so.
Trump has touted his role in appointing three Supreme Court appointees who helped drive the court's majority decision in 2022 to eliminate a nationwide right to abortion after five decades.
"You just can't trust him when it comes to women's reproductive health," said Inslee, who is leaving office in January after serving 12 years as governor.
The doses are enough to supply the state's abortion patients for an estimated three years. Washington has seen the number of out-of-state women traveling there for abortions increase since 2022, when numerous states - including nearby Idaho - implemented bans in the wake of the Supreme Court's decision.
Harris and other Democrats have made abortion a central campaign issue this year. A majority of Americans say abortion should be legal in most or all cases, according to Reuters/Ipsos polling.
(Reporting by Matt McKnight; Writing by Joseph Ax; Editing by David Gregorio)
