Supreme Court Stays Mifepristone Access Restriction

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday temporarily blocked a lower court ruling that would have restricted nationwide access to the abortion pill mifepristone, allowing prescriptions through telemedicine and delivery by mail or at pharmacies to continue for now.

Justice Samuel Alito, who handles emergency matters from the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, issued an administrative stay pausing the appeals court's decision from the previous Friday. That ruling had reinstated an in-person clinician visit requirement for the drug, which Louisiana had sought in its lawsuit against the Food and Drug Administration. The stay remains in effect until 5 p.m. on May 11, giving the full court time to consider emergency appeals from mifepristone manufacturers Danco Laboratories and GenBioPro. Alito directed Louisiana to respond to those requests by Thursday.

The case stems from a 2023 FDA rule, adopted during the COVID-19 pandemic and later made permanent, that eliminated the need for in-person dispensing of mifepristone. Approved by the FDA in 2000, the drug is used with misoprostol in medication abortions, which account for more than 60 percent of all abortions in the United...