Abortion pill ruling: What is the impact on mifepristone access in California?

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- It wasn't even six months ago that Californians overwhelmingly voted to enshrine abortion rights into the state constitution.

But after a conservative federal judge in Texas ruled late last week to block the Food and Drug Administration's approval of the most widely used abortion medication, Mifepristone, there's questions about what that could mean for access to the drug here in the state.

The current answer, for this moment, is nothing.

MORE: Judge reverses FDA approval of abortion drug after 23 years

U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk ruled to suspend the FDA's approval of mifepristone.

The Biden administration has appealed the judge's decision and requested an emergency stay of the injunction, saying the ruling thwarts the FDA's ability to make scientific decisions.

So, until a federal appeals court weighs in, there's no change to the drug's availability in California.

MORE: DOJ asks appeals court for emergency stay of abortion pill ruling

That said, what happens if the ruling is upheld?

"It's a huge impact," Jessica Pinckney Gil, the executive director of Access Reproductive Justice, a Bay Area-based abortion fund, told ABC7 News.

The short answer: Mifepristone would not be available, even in states like California.

"It basically really undermines our autonomy as a state that has made so much investment in ensuring that abortion really is accessible for everyone and anyone who needs it," Pinckney Gil said.

Mifepristone was approved by the FDA more than 20 years ago. It's been used millions of times and is used in more than half of abortions in the U.S.

In California, it's available through a prescription and used along with another drug, Misoprostol.

In response to the judge's ruling, Governor Gavin Newsom announced on Monday that the state has secured an emergency stockpile of two million pills of Misoprostol.

A press release from the governor's office said that "while California still believes Mifepristone is central to the preferred regimen for medication abortion," stockpiling Misoprostol would "ensure that California remains a safe haven for safe, affordable, and accessible reproductive care."

"Mifepristone and Misoprostol are the two medications used for medication abortion," Shannon Olivieri Hovis, the director of NARAL Pro-Choice California, said.

"California has done what we always do, which is ensuring that people have access to comprehensive care," she added," And medication abortion will continue to remain available in California, even if it is Misoprostol only medication, which it's not ideal but it still works."

Whatever the outcome is of the Texas ruling, Olivieri Hovis and Pinckney Gil said that it's important people know that access to abortions would still be legal in California, despite what they see as efforts by anti-abortion groups to undermine state laws.

MORE: 'Abortion pill' mifepristone is also used widely to treat miscarriages, doctors say

Mifepristone, known as the abortion pill, is also widely used to treat miscarriages and can keep a woman from needing surgery, doctors say.

"We'll continue to make sure folks receive abortion care they need and desire, but it adds additional barriers, it adds additional hurdles for everyone involved," Pinckney Gil said.

Meantime, there's a competing ruling out of Washington state. A judge there ruled that Mifepristone is safe and effective.

All eyes are now looking towards Washington, D.C. It's likely the future of the drug could come down to the Supreme Court.

"What we're really shaping up to see," Oliveri Hovis said, "Is some kind of showdown in the higher courts about the future of this medication."

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