politics
Supreme Court Considers Emergency Appeal Over In-Person Requirement for Mifepristone
The Supreme Court is examining an emergency petition from two mifepristone manufacturers seeking to overturn a 5th Circuit ruling that restored an in-person screening requirement for the abortion pill. Anti-abortion groups and 23 Republican-led states urged the justices to keep the restriction in place. Justice Samuel Alito issued an administrative stay that expires at 5 p.m. Monday.
May 8, 2:58 PM·2m read1 source
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U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit that restored an in-person screening requirement for access to the abortion pill. Anti-abortion groups urged the Supreme Court this week to uphold the appeals court ruling barring abortion pills from being sold online and transported to patients via mail.
M. Monday. Justice Samuel Alito issued an administrative stay on Monday to allow both sides to brief the high court on the emergency petition.
M. on Monday. m. Monday. Louisiana officials brought the initial lawsuit challenging the FDA rule on mifepristone.
Louisiana officials and anti-abortion groups filed briefs to the Supreme Court calling on the justices to allow the 5th Circuit ruling to remain in effect. Louisiana’s brief was brought by officials from Louisiana and the conservative law firm Alliance Defending Freedom. The FDA lifted the in-person screening requirement under the Biden administration in 2023.
The FDA had long included an “in-person dispensing requirement” prior to the 2023 change. The Supreme Court issued its 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. “While this Court was preparing to ‘return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives,’ the Biden administration was preparing a plan that predictably would undermine that decision.
That plan turned on the abortion drug mifepristone,” Louisiana’s brief stated. The brief argued that out-of-state prescribers are causing approximately 1,000 illegal abortions in Louisiana each month by mailing FDA-approved mifepristone into the state.
