Healey, Campbell applaud abortion pill decision but caution more challenges could happen

The U.S. Supreme Court ruling protecting access to medication abortion with mifepristone was a "no brainer" and "the obvious decision," Gov. Maura Healey said Thursday.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote the decision for the unanimous court, declaring that while the plaintiffs challenging the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's 2016 and 2021 expansions of access to mifepristone have "sincere legal, moral, ideological, and policy objections" to other people getting an abortion, they did not show that they would be harmed by the FDA’s mifepristone policies.

Healey told reporters Thursday that the ruling was a good thing because it means that mifepristone will remain accessible around the country and "because it means that our important life sciences companies and people who rely on the FDA to pioneer all sorts of cures to diseases and treatments can continue to do that work without fear that FDA scientific opinion is going to be second-guessed by political hacks and people with extremist agendas."

But she also cautioned that the specific details of the court's rationale "left open an idea that someone could challenge mifepristone and medication abortion" before the courts again.

"It doesn't mean that somebody else can't challenge it, and so that's concerning," the governor said. "And remember, this is against a context of abortion and women's access to needed health care under attack in this country. Over 20 states in America right now have near total abortion bans. A third of American women live in states that ban abortion."

"So the onslaught, the attack on women's rights and reproductive freedom continues, and Massachusetts and others will be strong in the face of that and standing up to protect providers to protect patients and protect access to needed care," Healey said.

In neighboring Connecticut, Gov. Ned Lamont also forecast additional challenges to reproductive health care.

"This case was never about safety, it was about controlling peoples’ medical decisions and their ability to decide when they should start a family," Lamont said in a statement. "But we must recognize that this will not be the last attempt by politicians to interfere in reproductive healthcare. As long as I am in office, I will use every tool in my power to fight for the ability of patients and their doctors to make their own reproductive healthcare decisions.”

Last year, after a federal judge in Texas suspended FDA approval of mifepristone, Healey issued an executive order meant to clarify that a state law passed in 2022 to protect abortion access from out-of-state prosecution extends to the pills as well. She also announced last year that the University of Massachusetts Amherst had ordered 15,000 doses of mifepristone to stockpile in event of a shortage and to help "ensure sufficient coverage in the state for more than a year."

Asked what will become of that stockpile in light of the court's ruling, Healey said that she will "have more to say about that next week." In March, a Healey aide said doses in the stockpile "have not been used yet as the case is still pending in the Supreme Court."

Attorney General Andrea Campbell struck a similar tone as Healey, both celebrating that the court's ruling removes one immediate hurdle but acknowledging that similar challenges are likely to follow.

"I commend the Supreme Court for unanimously rejecting this lawsuit which is a right-wing, anti-science attack on the FDA and its approval of mifepristone. Mifepristone is safe, effective and will continue to remain available as it always has been. But make no mistake: anti-abortion advocates will not stop trying to prevent Americans from accessing reproductive healthcare, including medication abortion," Campbell said. "I am ready to take on these fights and will use every tool at my disposal to ensure continued access to abortion for all who need it."

Healey also highlighted another case pending before the Supreme Court, involving Idaho's law making abortion only legal to prevent a woman's death.

"It's just crazy. You know the scenario of what's happening right now in Idaho with that law in place. We have women who are being airlifted by helicopter out of Idaho to get needed medical service just to stay alive, just because there is a law there that prevents access to abortion," Healey said.

She added, "That's the state of play. So I just want to be really clear about what this decision is and what it isn't. And importantly, the need for people to continue to work together, here and across this country, to defend and protect a woman's freedom to access abortion, to access IVF, to access the reproductive health care that she needs."

Healey's response largely mirrored that of the Democratic National Committee and other Democrat groups in that she used the court's ruling to call greater attention to Republican anti-abortion policies that Democrats are keen to hold out as a point of contrast ahead of this fall's elections, especially when it comes to presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump.

Healey has been active this year as a surrogate for President Joe Biden's campaign, especially around issues of reproductive rights.