Green administration voices support for access to abortion drug Mifepristone

Hawai‘i residents can still access the medication abortion drug mifepristone following two federal district court rulings. Governor Josh Green’s administration has expressed a determination to ensure that access remains.

On Friday, April 7, 2023, a judge in the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas issued a decision staying the US Food and Drug Administration’s decades-old approval of mifepristone for use in medication abortion.

Later that same day, a judge in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Washington barred the FDA from “altering the status quo and rights as it relates to the availability” of mifepristone in 18 jurisdictions, including the State of Hawaiʻi.

Earlier this year, Attorney General Anne Lopez authorized the State of Hawai‘i to bring suit as a plaintiff in the Washington case, State of Washington & State of Hawai‘i, et al. v. U.S. Food & Drug Administration, specifically to safeguard access to mifepristone in Hawai‘i.

“I applaud the Washington court’s ruling, which preserves mifepristone access in the State of Hawaiʻi while the Washington case proceeds,” said Attorney General Anne Lopez. “The Texas district court’s decision, on the other hand, blatantly disregards medical research establishing the proven safety of mifepristone. I will continue to fight against unnecessary restrictions on medication abortion, and vigorously support and defend Hawaiʻi’s laws protecting abortion access.”

“As Hawaiʻi’s physician governor, I feel strongly about health care, including reproductive health care and women’s rights to make choices,” said Governor Josh Green M.D. in a news release. “We cannot condone any scenario in which individual judges in other states seek to override decades of careful, scientific research and approvals of mifepristone by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Our state joins all others that support women’s freedom of choice and their access to all forms of safe, legal health care.”

• The order in the case of Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v US Food & Drug Administration, 2:22-CV-223-Z (N.D. Tex.) is attached here.
• The order in State of Washington & State of Hawaii, et al. v US Food & Drug Administration, No. 1:23-CV-3026-TOR (E.D. Wash.) is attached here.