Supreme Court extends order allowing abortion drugs to be mailed

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito on Monday extended a stay he issued last week as the court continues considering whether or not abortion drugs can be mailed across the country. The order came one hour before the May 4 stay was due to expire. Now the judges have until Thursday to decide whether or not abortionists can continue shipping the abortion drug mifepristone while the case continues through lower courts.

What is the history of the case? The state of Louisiana and plaintiff Rosalie Markezich sued the Food and Drug Administration over its policy allowing abortionists to mail the drugs without ever seeing the patient in person. They argued that the policy enables abusers like Markezich’s former boyfriend to purchase the pills online and force or coerce women into having unwanted abortions. The state also said that the policy infringes on states’ ability to enforce their pro-life laws that are intended to protect unborn babies from chemical abortions.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on May 1 temporarily reinstated a nationwide requirement that mifepristone only be prescribed in-person. The panel of judges agreed that the FDA policy was causing harm to the state of Louisiana. One day later, mifepristone makers Danco Laboratories and GenBioPro asked the high court to pause the circuit court’s ruling.

Why do pro-lifers believe the case has standing? This case is focused on the Biden-era policy that ended the in-person dispensing requirement for mifepristone, Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Erik Baptist told WORLD. ADF is defending Louisiana and Markezich in the case. Baptist said the policy clearly stands in the way of pro-life states being able to protect unborn babies as they were expected to do following the ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that overturned a federal right to abortion. In their emergency petitions, Danco and GenBioPro pointed to a 2024 Supreme Court decision that determined pro-life doctors did not have standing to sue the FDA over its mifepristone policies. However, Baptist said that case is fundamentally different than the one currently before the court because Louisiana and Markezich have demonstrated that they are being directly harmed by the policy.

What have pro-lifers said ahead of the decision? A coalition of more than 100 Republican lawmakers this month filed an amicus brief in support of Louisiana’s lawsuit, urging the Supreme Court to stop abortion pills from being mailed. Meanwhile, more than 20 state attorneys general have asked the court to leave the 5th Circuit’s order in place.

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