Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday that California is securing a stockpile of Abortion pills to blunt the potential impact of a judge’s ruling last week jeopardizing the most common means of terminating pregnancies in the U.S.

The Texas judge’s April 7 ruling would suspend federal approval of Mifepristone, one of two pills commonly used together to terminate a pregnancy. A Washington judge issued an order protecting the drug’s legal status on the same day, further clouding the status of so-called medication abortions.

Newsom said Monday that his administration has purchased 250,000 doses of misoprostol, the second pill typically taken after mifepristone to complete the abortion, but which also can be used alone for that purpose.

“Our state has secured a stockpile of an alternative medication abortion drug to ensure that Californians continue to have access to safe reproductive health treatments,” Newsom said in a statement. “We will not cave to extremists who are trying to outlaw these critical abortion services. Medication abortion remains legal in California.”

Newsom said the state negotiated the purchase of misoprostol in anticipation of last Friday’s ruling by Matthew Kacsmaryk, a U.S. District Court judge for the northern district of Texas. The case involved a lawsuit by antiabortion doctors and medical groups who argued the federal Food and Drug Administration erred in its 23-year-old decision concluding mifepristone is safe.

The Biden administration is appealing Kacsmaryk’s ruling and requesting that it be stayed until all appeals are resolved.

More than 200 pharmaceutical company executives have since signed an open industry letter criticizing the ruling, arguing it “creates uncertainty for the entire biopharma industry” and “ignores decades of scientific evidence and legal precedent” that give the FDA final say in approving the safety and usage of drugs.

The governor’s office said the state has negotiated the ability to purchase up to 2 million more misoprostol pills as needed.

Newsom said the move not only assures “California remains a safe haven for safe, affordable, and accessible reproductive care,” but will help other states secure the drug at a low cost because California is sharing the negotiated purchase terms with all 21 states in the Reproductive Freedom Alliance.

In addition to California, those states are Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Washington and Wisconsin.

Abortion opponents criticized Newsom’s move as putting politics above the health of women and children.

“Newsom’s stockpile of cheap, widely available medication for stomach ulcers, which is used off-label to induce early labor, is yet another gimmick to highlight his support for the abortion industry,” said Mary Rose Short, director of California Right to Life.

“Whether a child is first starved of nutrients and oxygen with mifepristone or delivered alive with misoprostol to then die in the toilet, chemical abortions are gruesome,” Short said. “Now that the safety of the chemical abortion regimen has been called into question, Governor Newsom and his campaign donors in the abortion industry are putting profit over people, over both women and their unborn children.”

Abortion rights advocates including NARAL Pro-Choice California Director Shannon Oliveri Hovis praised Newsom for “holding the line to protect abortion care, including medication abortion, for all people — including those who come from anti-choice states seeking care.”

“California is a Reproductive Freedom State, and as our nation faces a crisis, we have to use every tool in our toolbox to protect abortion access,” Hovis said. “Extremist judges do not control our lives and freedoms — we have the power to fight back and ensure that all people can access the care they need.”

Battles over abortion have flared since the U.S. Supreme Court last June overturned its 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling establishing a constitutional right to abortion, allowing individual states to decide whether to impose restrictions.

While a dozen states have moved to outlaw abortion, Newsom has championed the procedure, including pushing a constitutional abortion rights amendment that two out of three voters approved last November. Earlier this year, Newsom moved to cancel a state contract with Walgreens after the Illinois-based pharmacy chain said it wouldn’t distribute mifepristone in states where attorneys warned it would be illegal, but Kaiser Health News has since reported that the state is required to do business with the pharmacy due to federal Medicaid reimbursement laws.

The FDA approved the first of the two abortion pills, mifepristone, in 2000. It was initially approved through seven weeks gestation and was extended in 2016 to 10 weeks. According to the Guttmacher Institute, which supports abortion rights, more than half of U.S. abortions are now by pill, meaning they don’t require a procedure performed in a clinic by a medical professional.

Mifepristone blocks a hormone needed to nourish the interior of the uterus and keep the fetus alive. Misoprostol is then given to cause uterine contractions and expel the fetus.

The FDA says it approved mifepristone after a “thorough and comprehensive review of the scientific evidence presented and determined that it was safe and effective for its indicated use.” There have been 28 deaths associated with the drug since its approval.

Misoprostol is approved for reducing risk of ulcers, and the drug’s label notes that it “may cause abortion (sometimes incomplete), premature labor, or birth defects if given to pregnant women.”