SCOTUS Temporarily Restores Mail-Order Access to Abortion Pills
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the U.S. Supreme Court issued an administrative stay that temporarily restores nationwide mail-order access to the abortion pill Mifepristone, which pauses an appeals court order that reinstated a previous rule that the drug be dispensed in-person.
On Friday, the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) must reinstate the in-person requirement for dispensing Mifepristone as the legal case moves through the courts. The Fifth Circuit’s decision temporarily blocked the 2023 FDA rule change that allowed Mifepristone to be distributed through the mail without an in-person medical visit. The three-judge panel of the appeals court ruled unanimously that the state of Louisiana was likely to prevail in its challenge to the pill’s 2023 deregulation adopted by Biden’s administration.
While the Fifth Circuit’s ruling was not a direct nationwide injunction, it had a practical effect nationwide because it tightened the FDA’s previously relaxed mail-order rules that apply in every state.
