ANNAPOLIS, Md. — A Maryland board permitted an emergency procurement of greater than $1 million on Wednesday to pay for a stockpile of a broadly used abortion tablet attributable to uncertainty surrounding authorized challenges towards the drug’s use.

The Board of Public Works permitted the funds to pay for 35,000 doses that will final a number of years, if needed. The stockpile, acquired in April, contains 30,000 doses of mifepristone and 5,000 doses of misoprostol. The highly effective spending panel is comprised of Gov. Wes Moore, Comptroller Brooke Lierman and Treasurer Dereck Davis.

Moore, a Democrat, famous earlier than the vote that the drug has been obtainable for many years and has fallen beneath “a very unique and distinct attack.”

The governor mentioned he wished to be clear “that reproductive freedom is non-negotiable: that my administration will continue to defend and protect women’s reproductive freedom and access to essential health care here in the state of Maryland. Full stop.”

Lierman, a Democrat, described the stockpiling as “a really important opportunity for Maryland to double down on expressing its support for women and our reproductive choices.”

“By moving quickly when the federal court system created uncertainty around the future use and availability of mifepristone, the emergency stockpile will preserve this medication as an important option for individuals seeking safe reproductive health care here in the state of Maryland,” Lierman mentioned.

Moore introduced in April that the state would stockpile the drug by a memorandum of understanding with the University of Maryland Medical System in response to the authorized challenges. Later that month, the U.S. Supreme Court determined to go away entry to mifepristone unchanged a minimum of into subsequent 12 months as appeals play out.

A courtroom case that started in Texas sought to roll again Food and Drug Administration approval of the drug. Lower courts had mentioned that ladies searching for the drug ought to face extra restrictions on getting it whereas the case continues, however the Supreme Court disagreed.

The controversy arose lower than a 12 months after the Supreme Court’s conservative majority overturned Roe v. Wade and allowed greater than a dozen states to successfully ban abortion.

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