Supreme Court Stays Appeals Court Block of Mail-Order Mifepristone Policy

U.S. Supreme Court on Monday, May 4, 2026, temporarily paused a lower court decision that blocked a federal rule allowing the abortion drug mifepristone to be shipped by mail. Associate Justice Samuel Alito entered an administrative stay of a Friday ruling by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, halting the block on the Food and Drug Administration's policy.

M. on May 11, 2026, providing time for the court to consider emergency appeals from drugmakers. Alito granted temporary relief to Danco Laboratories LLC and GenBioPro, the makers of mifepristone and its generic version.

Danco Laboratories filed an emergency application seeking to pause the 5th Circuit’s decision and asked the Supreme Court to take up and hear arguments in the case before its summer recess. GenBioPro similarly appealed, arguing the lower court's order created immediate uncertainty for patients and providers.

The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a unanimous decision by a three-judge panel on Friday, May 1, 2026, blocking the Biden-era rule promulgated by the FDA in 2023.

That rule authorized mifepristone to be mailed to women without an in-person doctor appointment, allowing prescriptions through telehealth and dispensing through the mail. The appeals court found that the FDA’s justifications for remotely dispensing mifepristone were based on flawed or nonexistent data.

Judge Kyle Duncan wrote for the unanimous panel that the balance of equities and public interest weigh in Louisiana’s favor.

'We have now three times found that the agency’s progressive relaxation of mifepristone’s guardrails likely lacked a basis in data and scientific literature,' Duncan stated. ’' The 5th Circuit documented that the new regulation resulted in numerous illegal abortions in Louisiana and led to the state paying thousands in Medicaid bills for women harmed by mifepristone.

The panel found that Louisiana’s Medicaid program covered emergency-room care for two women who experienced complications after receiving mifepristone from an out-of-state provider.

C. § 705 pending appeal, putting the order into effect immediately. Louisiana filed a lawsuit challenging the FDA policy in 2025, arguing the rule undermined its abortion ban.

M. on Thursday, May 7, 2026. A federal district court in Louisiana paused the litigation in April 2026, maintaining the eased conditions while the FDA reviewed the drug's safety.

Louisiana banned abortion, with narrow exceptions, after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. The state enacted a law in 2024 that designates mifepristone and misoprostol as controlled substances and criminalizes possession without a prescription.

Mifepristone is typically used in combination with misoprostol. The FDA approved mifepristone in 2000. Since 2016, the agency allowed mifepristone to be taken later into a pregnancy, expanded the healthcare workers who can prescribe it, and lifted an in-person dispensing requirement.

The FDA formally allowed mifepristone to be prescribed through telehealth appointments and dispensed through the mail in 2023. The Supreme Court unanimously rejected a challenge from a group of anti-abortion rights doctors and medical groups targeting mifepristone's availability in 2024. That case involved steps taken by the FDA since 2016 to make the drug easier to obtain.

Danco Laboratories and GenBioPro filed emergency appeals on Saturday, May 2, 2026, asking the justices to block the 5th Circuit’s order. The justices asked for a response from Louisiana by Thursday, May 7, 2026.

White House spokesperson Allison Schuster said: 'The Trump administration remains committed to the President's pro-life, pro-family, and pro-safety agenda and are closely following the active litigation on this issue. Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said the stay is temporary and expressed confidence that life and the law will win in the end.

Judge Kyle Duncan stated the Food and Drug Administration had failed to adequately study whether remotely prescribing mifepristone is safe.

The 5th Circuit ruled on Friday evening, May 1, 2026, that Louisiana’s claim is likely to succeed.