The fate of a nearly $700,000 abortion pill stockpile that has sat unused for more than a year is unclear after the U.S. Supreme Court handed down a decision Thursday that maintains public access to the drug.

Hours after Supreme Court justices unanimously ruled to preserve access to mifepristone — one of two pills used in medication abortion — Gov. Maura Healey said she plans to announce next steps for stockpile in the coming week and declined to provide more details before then.

“Well, we’re going to have more to say about that next week,” Healey said outside her State House office. “But I want to be clear about today’s ruling. First off, it’s a no-brainer. It’s the obvious decision because from the beginning this has just been a political attack and the plaintiffs in that case had absolutely no standing, which is the legal term, to even be in the court.”

Healey directed her administration to purchase 15,000 doses of mifepristone last April in the event of a shortage after a Texas judge suspended federal approval of the drug.

Access to the medication remained available after it shifted into the hands of the Supreme Court and the stockpile sat dormant while the legal challenge played out. Mifepristone has a shelf life of five years, according to the Department of Public Health.

The Department of Public Health, which has possession of the drug, previously indicated it would take steps to distribute the stockpile based on the final court ruling. But who will ultimately take control of the pills has not been made clear.

A spokesperson for Healey declined to provide more details on next week’s announcement.

Supreme Court justices said opponents of mifepristone lacked the legal standing to sue the U.S. Food and Drug Administration over its approval of the drug and actions to make it easier for people to access.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote in the court’s opinion that “federal courts are the wrong forum for addressing the plaintiffs’ concerns about FDA’s actions.”

Related Articles

Senate budget chief has ‘concerns’ with real estate transfer fee backed by Wu, Healey

First families in state-run shelters will be kicked out at the end of September, state says

Mass. reports largest single-year decline in opioid-related overdose deaths in 13 years

Beacon Hill Democrats strike deal on ‘revenge porn’ bill with formal sessions nearing end

Feds hand out more than $3.5M in disaster aid to residents hit by fall storms

“The plaintiffs may present their concerns and objections to the president and FDA in the regulatory process, or to Congress and the president in the legislative process. And they may also express their views about abortion and mifepristone to fellow citizens, including in the political and electoral processes,” he wrote.

The organizations who challenged the ruling argued in court documents that FDA decisions in 2016 and 2021 to ease restrictions on the drug were not reasonable and would “jeopardize women’s health across the nation.”

The challenge to mifepristone’s federal approval spurred a wave of criticism from elected officials and advocacy organizations in Massachusetts, who also pledged that residents would have access to the drug no matter what happened.

Many of those same people cheered the ruling Thursday.

Attorney General Andrea Campbell commended justices for rejecting the lawsuit brought by the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, which she argued was a “right-wing, anti-science attack on the FDA and its approval of mifepristone.”

“Mifepristone is safe, effective, and will continue to remain available as it always has been. But make no mistake, anti-abortion advocates will not stop trying to prevent Americans from accessing reproductive healthcare, including medication abortion,” Campbell said in a statement.

A local pro-life organization, Massachusetts Citizens for Life, said the ruling from the Supreme Court did not “address the dangers of mifepristone or its procurement.”

“Today’s decision is not at all the end of our effort to preserve women’s dignity and well-being where chemical abortion is concerned. It is a pivot point and an opportunity to, again, reveal the truth that the abortion industry has negligently failed to admit,” said Myrna Maloney Flynn, the organization’s president.

Reproductive Equity Now President Rebecca Hart Holder said the decision allows the pro-choice movement “to breathe a temporary sigh of relief.”

“But we cannot lose sight of the work ahead of us,” Hart Holder said in a statement. “While Donald Trump’s far-right Supreme Court dismissed this purely political attack on abortion care, we know another is right around the corner. Anti-abortion activists have made their aim quite clear: they will not stop until abortion is banned in all fifty states.”

Members of Massachusetts’ federal delegation, including Reps. Ayanna Pressley and Katherine Clark, also applauded the ruling.

“Mifepristone is safe, effective, and legal. This ruling is a major relief and victory for anyone who has or will ever need essential medication abortion care,” Pressley said in a statement. “Anti-abortion extremists at every level of government continue to try to rip away critical healthcare from millions of people. This case put essential reproductive healthcare at risk for people across the country, including in Massachusetts.”

Materials from the Associated Press were used in this report.