The Supreme Court on Thursday allowed access to medication abortion via telemedicine and by mail to continue, blocking a decision at the appellate court level that had restricted the drug.
The justices granted emergency requests from the makers of mifepristone, Danco Laboratories LLC and GenBioPro Inc., after the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on May 1 established an in-person requirement for dispensing of the medication, ruling that distribution by mail violates Louisiana’s abortion ban.
The stay retains the status quo in the U.S. and remains in effect pending disposition of the appeal at the 5th Circuit.
Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr. dissented.
The case has the potential to upend a Biden-era pandemic policy and make it much more difficult for women in Republican-led states to access abortions.
Mifepristone has been widely available in the U.S. for 25 years, and in 2023 medication abortion accounted for 63 percent of all abortions in the U.S., according to the Guttmacher Institute. And the share of that prescribed through telehealth has become much more common since the pandemic, now accounting for about one in four abortions, according to the Society for Family Planning.
Danco and GenBioPro argued that the Supreme Court had to intervene in the case to prevent “regulatory chaos” of the court system contradicting existing Food and Drug Administration policy.
The decision comes two days after FDA Commissioner Marty Makary stepped down. While he was commissioner, the FDA approved a generic version of mifepristone — a move that caused antiabortion groups to call for his ouster.
Many cheered his resignation.
Meanwhile, the FDA is working on an internal review of the drug’s safety.
A few hours before the court’s decision on Thursday, the Senate Democratic Caucus reintroduced a resolution stating that mifepristone is safe and effective. Lawmakers first introduced this resolution in 2023, following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
“As this resolution affirms, millions of people have used mifepristone to safely end pregnancies and treat miscarriages for more than 25 years, including by telemedicine,” Jessica Arons, director of the Liberty Division for Policy and Government Affairs at the American Civil Liberties Union, said in a statement about that resolution.
