New York City health clinics will soon be able to offer abortion medication to patients for free as the city positions itself as a safe haven for abortion access following the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade.
The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene indicated that it has entered into a "sole source” contract with pharmaceutical wholesaler R&S Northeast to buy 200-milligram mifepristone tablets, which are used with misoprostol to induce an abortion, in order "to mitigate the threat to public health posed by the recent supreme court decision," according to a legal notice.
The deal comes months after Mayor Eric Adams signed legislation last August that ensures city-run health facilities make abortion drugs available free of cost. The law is set to take effect later this year.
"The department shall make medication for medication abortion available to a patient who seeks to terminate a pregnancy when the use of such medication is indicated and in accordance with the medically reasonable and good faith professional judgment of such patient’s medical provider," the local law reads.
The Health Department has not disclosed how much government funding was spent on the contract nor how many abortion pills were purchased, though a fiscal impact report for City Council last year indicated the practice would mainly be funded through existing resources earmarked for the Health Department.
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