Supreme Court restores mifepristone access through May 11

The Supreme Court temporarily restored broad access to the abortion pill mifepristone on Monday, with Justice Samuel Alito issuing an administrative stay that allows women to obtain the medication at pharmacies or through the mail without an in-person doctor's visit. The order, which came in response to emergency appeals from drug manufacturers Danco Laboratories and GenBioPro, blocked a ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit that had threatened to restrict how the pill could be dispensed. Alito's stay will remain in effect until May 11 while the court considers the case more fully and both sides submit responses. The 5th Circuit ruling on Friday temporarily blocked a 2023 Food and Drug Administration regulation that allowed mifepristone to be prescribed remotely and sent through the mail. Louisiana state officials had challenged the rule after the state banned abortion following the Supreme Court's 2022 decision overturning Roe v. Wade, arguing that the FDA's action undermined its laws protecting unborn life and caused the state to spend Medicaid funds on emergency care for women experiencing complications from the drug. The appeals court found that Louisiana had legal standing to sue because its Medicaid program covered emergency-room care for two affected women, and it noted that "every abortion facilitated by FDA's action cancels Louisiana's ban on medical abortions." Medication abortion, which typically combines mifepristone with a second drug called misoprostol, accounts for the majority of abortions performed in the United States. The availability of these pills has been critical in blunting the impact of abortion bans enacted by Republican-led states since the Dobbs decision. Danco warned that the 5th Circuit's ruling created "immediate confusion and upheaval" for patients and providers, while GenBioPro said it had "unleashed regulatory chaos" and threatened to abruptly cut off access nationwide, including in states where abortion remains legal. This marks the second time the Supreme Court has addressed mifepristone's availability, having unanimously ruled in 2024 that anti-abortion doctors and medical groups lacked legal standing to challenge the FDA's regulations on the drug.