Appeals court halts mail-order abortion drugs for now

The Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday temporarily reinstated nationwide protections around the drugs used in chemical abortions, ruling they can not be prescribed via telehealth. The panel of judges granted the state of Louisiana’s motion to stay the Food and Drug Administration’s 2023 Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy for mifepristone. Under the Biden administration, the FDA in 2023 removed the in-person dispensing requirement for the abortion pill and allowed abortionists to prescribe the drug via telehealth and mail it directly to women across the country. In its Friday order, the court agreed that the FDA policy was causing harm to the state of Louisiana, which protects unborn babies at all stages of pregnancy, except in cases where the mother’s life is at stake.

What led up to the ruling? The order came after plaintiffs, including the state of Louisiana, appealed a district court order last month that paused their lawsuit against the FDA. In that ruling, the lower court agreed that the plaintiffs likely had standing to sue but granted the FDA six months to complete its safety review of mifepristone. The plaintiffs argue that the mail-order abortion pill policy is harming women and sidestepping state pro-life regulations.

Dig deeper: Read my report about how the mail-order abortion drug industry may be allowing black market pills to flood the country.