Supreme Court Stays In-Person Mifepristone Requirement

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday paused a lower court ruling that would have required in-person visits to obtain the abortion pill mifepristone, preserving nationwide access to the drug through telehealth prescriptions and mail delivery for now.

The unsigned order from the justices halted a May 1 decision by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which had reinstated a prior Food and Drug Administration requirement for in-person dispensing. The move came at the request of mifepristone manufacturers Danco Laboratories and GenBioPro, who intervened to defend the FDA's 2023 policy easing access. That policy, formalized after a temporary suspension during the COVID-19 pandemic, allows providers to prescribe the drug remotely and ship it to patients. The Supreme Court's action returns the case to the New Orleans-based appeals court to consider Louisiana's challenge on the merits.

Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented. In his statement, Alito called the majority's order "unreasoned" and argued it perpetuated a scheme to undermine the court's 2022 Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade. Thomas, in a separate dissent, invoked a 19th-century federal law banning the...