March 26, 2024
SB 5768
SB 5768 (WA): Protecting access to abortion medications by authorizing the department of corrections to acquire, sell, deliver, distribute, and dispense abortion medications.
What is the landscape that SB 5768 is responding to? This coming August, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) will review a case which could reverse the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) safety approval of mifepristone (often referred to as mife), one of the two medications needed to perform safe and effective medical abortions. The FDA approved mifepristone as ‘safe and effective’ 23 years ago and the FDA remains firm in that assessment today. However, after SCOTUS removed federal abortion protections in the summer of 2023, reproductive justice activists are preparing for another blow to reproductive rights. But for residents of Washington state, access is protected for the moment.
What does SB 5768 actually do? Sponsored by Governor Inslee, the WA state legislature passed SB 5768, last session (2023), which directed the Department of Corrections (DOC) to purchase a statewide supply of mifepristone for distribution. Now, you might be thinking, “DOC? I thought we were trying to decriminalize abortion here? What’s the DOC got to do with any of this and why is it going to have the statewide supply of mife?” But the DOC has its own pharmacy and medical system, and the state government does not. The DOC is uniquely positioned to legally purchase large quantities of mifepristone for distribution on behalf of WA state, and get it to people both inside the DOC system, and outside.
What does this mean for residents of Washington? It means that even if SCOTUS reverses the FDA approval on mifepristone in August, making the drug harder to access nationally, WA state will have its own supply. SB 5768 also mandated that might be sold at cost and cannot exceed the list price. A $5 processing fee may be added to the cost to cover storage and transport, but any revenue made by the DOC will go back into the state general fund. WA is also a state where Medicaid must cover the cost of abortion care, so if you are using Apple health, your abortion care will be covered. If you don’t have insurance and need help covering your abortion care, National Network of Abortion Funds can offer a variety of supportive options.
What does this mean for our Queer and Trans community? Queer and trans young people are twice as likely to experience an unintended pregnancy as their heterosexual counterparts due to various manifestations of homophobia and transphobia. Queer and trans bodies, the kinds of sex we have for pleasure or survival (and often both), and how queer and trans people are allowed to move through the world has long been over-regulated, curtailed, and criminalized. Continued, protected access to safe and effective abortion care is one antidote to the kind of freedom of choice that has too often been denied to queer and trans people.
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