On April 14, 2023, CalMatters reported that Governor Gavin Newsom had announced a California stockpile of two million misoprostol pills. Julia Spiegel, identified as deputy legal affairs secretary, told CalMatters the state chose misoprostol over mifepristone “because its legality is not in question.” CalMatters printed her sentence: “In this immediate moment of chaos and fear and confusion, California and Gov. Newsom wanted to send a very clear message that you can (get a medication abortion) here legally and safely…no matter what is happening in the courts.” Those are her words as the outlet recorded them. They are not a court finding.
Axios, April 17, 2023, printed another line: “Misoprostol is not the central focus of the ongoing litigation and therefore it's less subject to potentially being enjoined.” Axios said Newsom’s office shared its purchase agreement with members of the Reproductive Freedom Alliance. GovAct’s later founder page says that as Newsom counsel she “launched the Reproductive Freedom Alliance (RFA), bringing 23 governors together,” and that her “innovative strategy to stockpile medication abortion drugs” was featured in a New York Times profile. The Seattle Times, writing on the post-2024 resistance, quoted her on the RFA as “a model of coordination across states” that “could be replicated on other issues, like immigration and gun safety.” Influence Watch repeats that quote and cites the same account. This site records the quotes. It does not invent a federal crime in a stockpile.