New Jersey is joining a handful of states in stockpiling the abortion drug mifepristone as the country heads into President-elect Donald Trump’s second term.
Gov. Phil Murphy (D) and his administration are gathering a six-month supply of mifepristone to ensure future abortion access as Republican attacks against the drug loom large, Murphy’s team told HuffPost exclusively. The governor plans to announce his administration’s stockpiling efforts, as well as a renewed push to eliminate out-of-pocket costs for abortion care, in his State of the State speech Tuesday afternoon in Trenton.
“My Administration is committed to strengthening reproductive freedoms to ensure New Jersey remains a safe haven for patients and providers, in light of the anti-choice policies supported by the Trump Administration and the current majorities in Congress,” Murphy said in an emailed statement to HuffPost.
“Stockpiling mifepristone will protect access to this vital health care, and eliminating out-of-pocket costs for abortion procedures will continue our work to make reproductive health care affordable,” Murphy continued. “These efforts build upon the protections and services we have invested in over the past seven years.”
The New Jersey Department of Health has already started working with abortion providers throughout the state, including Planned Parenthood, to stockpile mifepristone. The move is part of a $50 million investment into reproductive health care services included in the state’s 2025 budget. In addition to mifepristone, the funds will go toward hiring more reproductive health care workers and upgrading and expanding the state’s family planning facilities.
New Jersey joins a handful of states, including Oregon, California and Maryland, that have stockpiled mifepristone in the wake of Republican threats to abortion pills. Medication abortion, or the combination of mifepristone and misoprostol, has been under attack since Roe v. Wade fell in 2022.
Although Trump has claimed he will keep abortion pills accessible when he returns to the White House, he has boasted repeatedly about his role in repealing federal abortion protections, which allowed nearly 20 states to enact abortion bans. As part of Project 2025, Trump allies described how they hoped the president-elect would restrict abortion care, including plans to revoke the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of mifepristone and criminalize the mailing of abortion pills using the Comstock Act, a law passed eight years after the end of the Civil War.
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Murphy also plans to call on New Jersey lawmakers to pass one of two bills currently working their way through the state Senate and Assembly that would cut out-of-pocket costs for abortion care. New Jersey covers abortion services under the state-regulated insurance plans, but out-of-pocket costs can still add up for patients. The governor pressed the legislature to pass similar bills last year and failed, but deputy press secretary Stella Porter told HuffPost the administration is more optimistic that the bills will get traction this year.
“We consider ourselves a safe haven for abortion care,” Porter said. “So let’s bring that up to speed by just easing this one thing that can really be a barrier for a lot of women, which is that cost that ends up on their shoulders.”
Under Murphy’s administration, New Jersey has expanded protections for reproductive health care. Murphy signed the Freedom of Reproductive Choice Act into law months ahead of the Supreme Court decision that repealed Roe. The law codified the right to reproductive autonomy, including abortion and contraception, into the state constitution ― something several states tried to do only after Roe fell.