SW News: An increasing number of US states with Democratic governors are hoarding medicines for abortions out of concern that the Texas federal court decision on mifepristone would limit access to the most popular procedure in the country.

The governors of New York, Washington, Massachusetts, and California disclosed that they had started to assemble years' worth of medical abortion supplies to use in their states. Doubting that the ban on abortion pills would be upheld by the higher courts in the coming days, the governors started to stockpile the drugs.

According to Governor Maura Healey, Massachusetts has purchased enough mifepristone pills for over a year. However, according to California governor Newsom, the state maintains a stockpile of up to 2 million misoprostol pills, the other chemical used to treat abortions.

Meanwhile, Washington governor, Jay Inslee, declared that the state had bought 30,000 pills of the generic form of mifepristone, enough to treat the entire population for three years.

The governors took action after Texas Federal Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk overthrew decades of federal and scientific approval of mifepristone on April 7. A second ruling issued on the same day by District Judge Thomas O. Rice, advising American authorities not to make any changes restricting access to the medicine, furthered the confusion.

The controversy over abortion exploded again last week due to conflicting decisions made by federal judges in Texas and Washington about the continued legality of the most commonly used abortion medication. The judiciary is currently trying to resolve the problem.

Chemical abortions have been more common since the FDA legalized mifepristone for usage up to 10 weeks into pregnancy in 2000. They currently make up more than half of abortions in the United States.