Gavin Newsom wants California to stock up on abortion pill

Gov. Gavin Newsom wants to expand the state’s ability to stockpile brand-name drugs to safeguard against potential federal intervention and shortages.

The governor said Tuesday that he will propose expanding the California Department of Health Services’ ability to buy brand-name and generic drugs, citing the need to “maintain uninterrupted access to medications at risk of shortage or political interference.”

The effort will be part of his revised budget message, which will be delivered Wednesday morning and is expected to project at least a $10 billion state deficit due to President Donald Trump’s tariffs, Medi-Cal shortfalls and cuts in federal spending driven by Trump’s billionaire adviser Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency.

Newsom said he plans to strengthen CalRx’s ability to buy drugs to protect reproductive health care, specifically citing mifepristone, a pill that can be used to end pregnancies that has been approved for use in the United States since 2000. CalRx is a generic state drug label Newsom signed into law in 2020.

In 2023, he ordered the state to stock up on another abortion drug, misoprostol, that is slightly less effective than when it is taken in combination with mifopristone.

His deputy legal affairs secretary said at the time that the governor opted for misoprostol over mifepristone because it was “not in the crosshairs” of the anti-abortion movement since misoprostol can also be used to treat stomach ulcers.

The release did not mention the president by name, though Newsom made safeguarding reproductive care access a hallmark of his “resistance” strategy against the first Trump administration. In 2023, Newsom said the state would cut ties with Walgreens after the pharmaceutical giant bowed to conservative pressure and said it would not sell mifepristone in 20 states, including Alabama, Missouri, Mississippi and Louisiana.

Newsom later had to walk back that threat because Walgreens does business with Medi-Cal.

The Supreme Court has since tossed out a lawsuit challenging the Food and Drug Administration’s expansion of access to mifepristone. And in a surprising move, the Department of Justice asked a federal judge last week to dismiss a lawsuit brought by the attorneys general of Kansas, Missouri and Idaho to restrict access to mifepristone, arguing the case had no legal standing to be heard in the Northern District of Texas.

Still, Newsom said Tuesday that he was wary enough to want to strengthen California’s “ability to protect reproductive health care options, including mifepristone and other medications under attack in other states.”

Shelby McMichael, a spokesperson for Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California, said California faced an “imminent threat” to its abortion and reproductive care resources, pointing to a provision in the congressional budget plan unveiled Sunday.

“Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California is supportive of any and all tools that protect reproductive health care, including maintaining access to medication abortion in the state,” McMichael said in an email.

In addition to stockpiling drugs, Newsom said he will require pharmacy benefit managers to be licensed by and submit financial reports to the Department of Managed Health Care, and report drug pricing data to the Department of Health Care Access and Information.

“Prescription drug prices are out of control and we’re shining a light on hidden costs,” Newsom said in a statement, “while also giving CalRx more tools to respond to supply chain disruptions, market manipulation, or politically motivated abortion restrictions.”

Bill Head, vice president of government affairs for the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association, placed the blame for rising drug costs on pharmaceutical companies.

“To reduce prescription drug costs, we strongly encourage the governor and California policymakers to examine the entire prescription drug supply, specifically drug companies. Drug companies alone set and raise drug prices, and the price is the problem,” Head said in a statement. “We look forward to working with the Administration to ensure transparency across the drug supply chain and to ensure consumers benefit.”

This story was originally published May 13, 2025 at 11:00 AM.