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Supreme Court Extends Access to Abortion Pill Mifepristone Through Thursday
The Supreme Court on Monday extended an administrative stay allowing continued mail-order and telehealth prescriptions of mifepristone while it considers a challenge from Louisiana. Justice Samuel Alito issued the order, which prevents a 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling from taking effect for at least three more days.
May 9, 6:00 AM·3m read8 sources
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m. Justice Samuel Alito issued the order after pharmaceutical manufacturers asked the court to block a ruling from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that would have restored an in-person dispensing requirement nationwide. The move came one day before the deadline for the justices to act on emergency applications filed by Danco Laboratories and GenBioPro, the two companies that produce mifepristone.
Lower courts had sided with Louisiana, which argued that the Food and Drug Administration's 2023 decision to allow remote prescriptions undermined the state's near-total abortion ban and increased costs for its Medicaid program from emergency room visits.
Mifepristone is taken with a second drug, misoprostol, to end early pregnancies. Medication abortions accounted for 63 to 65 percent of all abortions in the United States in 2023, according to data cited across multiple outlets. The current dispute echoes a 2024 case in which the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that a group of anti-abortion doctors lacked standing to challenge the same FDA rules.
Louisiana sued the FDA in October over its removal of the in-person screening requirement for mifepristone, which had been in place when the drug was first approved in 2000. State officials said the policy change allowed thousands of pills to reach residents despite the state's ban on elective abortions, effectively nullifying its law that declares an unborn child a legal person from conception.
The 5th Circuit agreed in early May that Louisiana faced irreparable harm and temporarily blocked the 2023 FDA policy. The appeals court cited insurance claims data showing that nearly 11 percent of women who take mifepristone require follow-up medical care for complications.
A federal district court had paused the case while the FDA conducts a safety review, but Louisiana appealed that pause. The Trump administration has remained silent in the litigation, declining to file briefs supporting the FDA's regulations even though federal policy is at stake.
