As an abortion provider, I am proud to live in a state that has long led the nation in protecting reproductive health care and advancing reproductive freedom. Washington has a reputation for doing what’s right while other states in the region work to pass legislation that denies citizens basic health care. But right now, our state’s government is at risk of falling short of that promise.
In 2023, under then-Gov. Jay Inslee, Washington spent $1.3 million in taxpayer dollars to purchase a stockpile of mifepristone, one of two medications administered for abortion care, as a safeguard against legal threats to access. That move was heralded as bold and proactive. But nearly two years later, the state has no plan for distribution. In January, those medications are set to be destroyed.
Rather than solving the problem, Gov. Inslee’s office compounded it by spending another $757,000 on 17,600 doses of mifepristone and 61,500 doses of misoprostol. Those doses are also sitting in storage with no plan to reach patients, and some doses will expire as early as March 2026.
This isn’t a matter of political symbolism. It’s about patient care and public trust. I counsel patients every week who must get abortion medications shipped from across the country. If the initial stock purchased is distributed before it expires in January, the state could provide safe abortions for up to 30,000 people at a time when the need has never been greater.
The state’s missteps are not for lack of options. Experts have repeatedly offered to help craft a distribution plan. Other states that purchased abortion medication stockpiles after Washington have successfully distributed medications to clinics or provided funding directly to providers to purchase their own stockpiles. However, Washington impaired itself with a statute requiring the drugs be sold at the state’s cost plus a $5 handling fee — despite having paid more than the provider rate — making it harder and more expensive to move the supply at all.
Meanwhile, the Legislature cut funding to the Department of Health’s Abortion Access Project by $8.5 million, a 55% reduction in resources that directly support patients’ access to care. This comes as rising poverty, restrictive laws in over 24 states, and worsening economic conditions leave more and more patients unable to afford abortion care. As providers, we know what this means. Black, Indigenous, and other people of color, as well as rural communities and young folks without health care, will continue to be pushed to the margins.
Washington and the governor’s office have the tools, resources and capacity to do better. We should not waste millions of taxpayer dollars on medications that never reach patients. We should not destroy medication for essential health care just like the Trump administration intends to do with $10 million worth of birth control overseas.
There is still time to fix this. Gov. Bob Ferguson and lawmakers should return to the table and find a solution that gets these medications into providers’ hands as quickly as possible. Washington can live up to its values and its leadership role in the reproductive freedom movement — but only if it acts now.
