Senate approves amendment letting DPH pharmacies dispense mifepristone and gender-affirming medications

Senator Julian Cyr, the senator from Cape and Islands, spoke on amendment 51, which the Clerk read as permitting pharmacies operated by the Department of Public Health to distribute gender-affirming medications and to utilize the state stockpile of mifepristone; the Senate adopted the amendment by voice vote.

Cyr said the amendment aims to safeguard access to essential medications amid what he described as coordinated federal and legal attacks on reproductive and transgender health care. “These will be decisions between a patient, their doctor, and their families, not politics or vitriol,” he said.

Cyr referenced recent federal court developments and a decision he cited as United States v. Scrametti, and he quoted Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s dissent as read from the bench to underscore the harms he said would follow restrictions on gender-affirming medications for young people.

The amendment was described as tied to section 29 of the supplemental budget, which Cyr said takes “necessary steps to ensure access to mifepristone and other reproductive care medications.” After floor remarks and a voice vote, the amendment was adopted.

Supporters said the change would help preserve supply channels for medications relied on by transgender people and people seeking reproductive care. The amendment does not change federal law governing dispensing requirements, and its implementation would be carried out within the administration’s statutory authorities and DPH procedures.

Opponents did not prevail on the voice vote; the amendment was adopted and incorporated into the supplemental spending document on the floor.