Abortion med bill passes WA Senate committee
Senate Bill 5768, intended to safeguard access to abortion medication, passed the Washington State Senate Ways and Means Committee last Wednesday. Abortion access, whether by medication or medical procedure, is being examined across the nation after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year.
COURTESY PHOTO/ALEX GREEN VIA PEXELS
OLYMPIA – A bill intended to safeguard access to abortion medication passed the Washington State Senate.
“The people of Washington have demonstrated time and again — in polls and at the ballot box — that we support the right to reproductive freedom,” said Sen. Karen Keiser (D-Des Moines), the bill’s sponsor. “But that right means nothing without actual access to care.”
At the direction of Gov. Jay Inslee, the state Department of Corrections purchased a three-year supply of mifepristone, medication used in nearly 60% of abortions in the state, using its existing statutory authority and pharmacy license, a release by Washington State Senate Democrats stated. Senate Bill 5768, first read to the legislature on April 5, would give DOC the authority to distribute or sell the medication to clinics around the state.
The release said these actions are intended to ensure the abortion medication remains available in Washington even if manufacturing were to be paused due to the uncertainty created by two federal lawsuits regarding the federal Food and Drug Administration’s approval of mifepristone, in which judges have issued potentially conflicting rulings.
“For 10,000 women every year in our state, that right comes down to having access to mifepristone,” Keiser said. “We cannot allow an unelected judge in Texas to ignore more than two decades of evidence and deny Washingtonians a safe, effective medication for their reproductive choice.”
Five amendments were considered in the committee hearing on April 10 but none were adopted. The bill passed out of committee on a party line vote and passed the Senate with a vote of 28-18. It is scheduled for public hearing in the House Appropriations Committee on April 18 and scheduled for executive session on April 19.
This issue is also being addressed at the national level with a Texas judge ruling to remove the FDA’s approval of mifepristone. The Supreme Court has since taken up the case and extended access to the drug to women in the U.S. through Friday.