News & Updates
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GBH | Abortion supporters cautiously celebrate Supreme Court preserving access to abortion pill
“[This] decision from the Supreme Court to uphold the stay on mifepristone allows us to breathe a temporary sigh of relief. As this case goes through the appeals process, millions of people will be able to continue to access mifepristone in states where abortion remains legal,” Rebecca Hart Holder, president of Reproductive Equity Now, said in an emailed statement. “However, we need to be clear-eyed that this is not the end of our battle to protect medication abortion access nationwide. ... Every day that preserves abortion access is a good day, but the fight continues.”
Boston Globe | The cold comfort of a reprieve
“We should not pretend that ultimately the courts will vindicate our rights,” said Rebecca Hart Holder, head of Reproductive Equity Now. “The Texas case shows what anti-abortion advocates are trying to do is ban abortion in all 50 states, and they will not stop until they achieve that goal.”
Boston Globe | Supreme Court blocks enactment of abortion pill restrictions
Still, some had a sense of trepidation as the larger case moves on. Rebecca Hart Holder, president of Reproductive Equity Now, a Massachusetts-based advocacy group, said it is impossible to read the tea leaves, given the court’s existing decision to overturn Roe vs. Wade and antiabortion groups’ attempts at a national ban on the procedure.
Reproductive Equity Now Breathes ‘Temporary Sigh of Relief’ After Supreme Court Upholds Stay in Mifepristone Case
“Today’s decision from the Supreme Court to uphold the stay on mifepristone allows us to breathe a temporary sigh of relief. As this case goes through the appeals process, millions of people will be able to continue to access mifepristone in states where abortion remains legal,” said Rebecca Hart Holder, President of Reproductive Equity Now.
Elle Magazine | Access to Mifepristone Is in Danger. In Massachusetts, Maura Healey Stockpiled a Year’s Supply.
We asked ourselves what we could do as a state to protect people’s reproductive freedom here in Massachusetts. We were ready with a plan of action when the ruling came down on a Friday evening of a holiday weekend.
Reproductive Equity Now on Appellate Court Mifepristone Decision: “We Will Not Normalize This Abortion Ban”
Reproductive Equity Now President Rebecca Hart Holder released the following statement today after a federal appeals court late Wednesday night temporarily froze parts of Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk’s ruling to halt FDA approval of mifepristone, but reinstated medically unnecessary, pre-2016 restrictions on medication abortion care.
State House News Service | Healey Order Aims To Protect Abortion Pill Access
"With this stockpiled supply of mifepristone, our providers can continue to offer the gold standard of medication abortion care to thousands of people throughout the state, regardless of what a judge in Texas says," said Reproductive Equity Now President Rebecca Hart Holder. "Today, Massachusetts is sending a clear message that we will fight back against attempts to reach across our borders and restrict access to care."
NBC10 | Healey Orders Stockpiling of Abortion Pill in Mass., Clarifies Law Protecting it
The doses of mifepristone purchased by UMass Amherst are enough "to ensure sufficient coverage in the state for more than one year," according to a statement from Reproductive Equity Now.
MassLive | Medication abortion ruling: Gov. Healey unveils plan to protect mifepristone in Mass.
Rebecca Hart Holder, executive director of Boston-based Reproductive Equity Now, said Kacsymryk’s ruling “has no basis in science, medicine, or justice.”
Following Texas Judge’s Order to Halt FDA Approval of Mifepristone, Governor Healey Takes Bold Action to Stockpile Drug, Protect Providers
Reproductive Equity Now President Rebecca Hart Holder released the following statement today after Governor Maura Healey announced several actions to protect and stockpile a state supply of mifepristone, the first drug used in a two-drug medication abortion regimen. The announcement follows Northern District Court of Texas Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk’s ruling in Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday to stay, or halt, the FDA’s 23-year approval of mifepristone.
Boston Globe | ‘It’s creating enormous chaos’: Legal experts, political leaders blast Texas court ruling that could affect access to abortion pill
“Everything is on the table with our response, quite frankly,” Hart Holder said.
Boston Globe | An ‘antiabortion screed:’ Health care providers in Mass. react to Texas decision
“We need to be very clear-eyed about how devastating this decision could be if it is upheld by the highest” court, said Rebecca Hart Holder, president of Reproductive Equity Now, a Massachusetts-based advocacy group.
Commonwealth Magazine | Bringing the abortion pill litigation into focus
Nothing changes for at least the next week, because of the Texas seven-day stay, but “it’s hard to predict what will happen on day eight,” said Rebecca Hart Holder, head of Boston-based Reproductive Equity Now.
Reproductive Equity Now Condemns Texas Judge’s Ruling to Stay FDA Approval of Mifepristone
“Today a far-right, anti-abortion judge—two thousand miles away in Amarillo, Texas—ruled with anti-abortion extremists to usurp the will of the people and restrict medication abortion access nationwide. We want to be clear: Judge Kacsymryk’s decision has no basis in science, medicine, or justice. The decision is a result-driven, politically-motivated legal charade intended to ban abortion nationwide.”
WBUR | What dueling abortion pill rulings mean for Mass.
The Texas ruling “is playing with our lives in a really disgusting and disingenuous way,” said Hart Holder. “People are not going to know what’s legal, what’s not legal, when they can access and where they can go to access care.”
Boston Globe | Mass., other N.E. officials react to Texas medication abortion ruling
Reproductive Equity Now, a Boston-based nonprofit organization that advocates for abortion access, said in a statement that medication abortion accounts for nearly 50 percent of abortions in Massachusetts and more than 50 percent of abortions nationwide, and has a 99 percent safety rate.
With Judge’s Ruling to Strike Down Affordable Care Act’s Preventive Services Mandate, Millions Could Lose Access to Pregnancy-Related, LGBTQ+ Health Care
Reproductive Equity Now President Rebecca Hart Holder released the following statement today after a judge in the Northern District Court of Texas ruled to strike down the Affordable Care Act’s preventive services provision through which 3.3 million Massachusetts residents on private insurance currently access no-cost coverage for preventive care. This ruling will significantly impact people’s access to pregnancy-related and LGBTQ+ health care nationwide.
WWLP | Gov. Maura Healey signs supplemental budget that invests in reproductive health care and abortion resources
Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey included critical reproductive health care funds in her FY2023 supplemental budget.
Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey Signs Supplemental Budget With Investments for Reproductive Health Care Access, Abortion Resources
Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey today signed a FY2023 supplemental budget that includes critical funding for reproductive health care access, including $1 million for a public education campaign on the dangers of anti-abortion centers, or “crisis pregnancy centers,” and $250,000 to support the Abortion Legal Hotline in Massachusetts.