Appeals court issues nationwide order blocking telehealth distribution of abortion pill mifepristone
The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in Louisiana issued a nationwide order Friday barring dispensation of the abortion pill mifepristone by telehealth providers and distribution of the medication by pharmacies and mail.
The order takes effect immediately and temporarily blocks 2023 Food and Drug Administration guidelines from the Biden administration that had eased access to the pill, citing an ongoing safety review by the Trump administration. The stay is in place as litigation continues.
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill, whose office is a plaintiff in the case, said in a statement on Friday, "I look forward to continuing to defend women and babies as this case continues."
The case is bound for the Supreme Court.
In 2024, the justices unanimously rejected a similar challenge to the pill, ruling that a group of doctors lacked legal standing to challenge the FDA's regulation of the abortion pill.
Mifepristone is one of the most common methods of abortion in the country, according to theAmerican College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and became the target of multiple lawsuits after the Supreme Court overruled its decision in Roe v. Wade. The oral drug is typically used in combination with another drug, misoprostol, to induce an abortion or to help manage an early miscarriage, up to 10 weeks' gestation.
Abortion opponents celebrated the court's order on Friday. Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser called it a "huge victory" and said she believes the plaintiffs "will prevail."
Reproductive rights groups have supported the telehealth distribution of mifepristone as a safe and widely used method of obtaining the pill.
"Telehealth has been the last bridge to care for many seeking abortion, which is precisely why Louisiana officials want it banned," Nancy Northup, president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights, said in a statement on Friday. "This isn't about science -- it's about making abortion as difficult, expensive, and unreachable as possible."
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has previously said that mifepristone is a "safe, effective, and necessary medication that has been used by millions of patients over the course of more than two decades and should remain available nationwide without medically unnecessary and burdensome restrictions."
