Supreme Court temporarily blocks appeals court ruling on abortion pill, restores wider access to drug
The Supreme Court on Monday temporarily blocked a federal appeals court ruling that would have sharply restricted access to the abortion pill, restoring, for now, the ability of patients to obtain the drug through telehealth, mail and pharmacies.
The order signed by Justice Samuel Alito temporarily allows women seeking abortions to obtain the pill without an in-person visit to a doctor, a temporary legal victory for abortion activists.
A federal appeals court had imposed new restrictions on the abortion pill last week.
"It is good to see SCOTUS issue this stay to immediately restore access by mail to mifepristone," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said, responding to the ruling on X. "But this fight is just beginning."
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"We will stop at nothing to prevent the Republicans from putting a national abortion ban into effect," he added.
The majority of abortions in the United States are obtained through medications, usually a combination of mifepristone and a second drug, misoprostol. The availability of those drugs has blunted the impact of abortion bans that many Republican-led states have sought to enforce since a 2022 Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade.
Louisiana sued to restrict access to mifepristone, asserting that its availability undermined the ban there.
The administrative stay remains in effect until at least May 11 at 5 p.m., giving the state time to respond to requests for a longer pause, and for the high court to take up the case on the merits.
"This ruling is not final — keep watching," Center for Reproductive Rights President and CEO Nancy Northup wrote in a statement. "Getting abortion pills through telehealth has been a lifeline for women since Roe v. Wade was overturned. There is no reason people shouldn’t be able to get mifepristone at a pharmacy or through the mail.
"Louisiana's attempt to restrict access is political and not based in science or medicine. Americans deserve access to this critical drug that has been FDA approved for 25 years."
Manufacturers of mifepristone filed emergency appeals asking the Supreme Court to step in.
Kristan Hawkins, president of the anti-abortion group Students for Life, decried Monday’s decision.
"Pill pushers receive every benefit of the doubt, including today, as Justice Alito allows pill traffickers and big pharma to operate temporarily while arguments are sent to the Court," she said in a statement.
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After Friday’s ruling from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, some groups that prescribe abortion pills by telehealth had planned to switch to misoprostol-only regimens.
Dr. Angel Foster, founder of The Massachusetts Abortion Access Project, said her organization was preparing to send misoprostol only on Monday afternoon but was able to switch back.
"Regardless of what happens with this regulatory issue, we and other groups will continue to provide high-quality abortion care to patients in all 50 states," she said.
The appeals court decision would have required the Food and Drug Administration to reimpose tighter limits on mifepristone access while litigation continues.
Fox News' Bill Mears, Shannon Bream and The Associated Press contributed to this report.