Supreme Court: Women must get abortion pill in person

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration had asked the nation’s highest court to allow it to require women to pick up abortion drugs from a doctor’s office, hospital, or abortion facility rather than get them via the mail during the pandemic. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 to grant the request.

Didn’t this already come to the Supreme Court once? After a federal judge suspended the in-person rule in July, the justices in October declined to make a decision, instead asking a lower court to rule on the question. U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang upheld the suspension in December, citing rising COVID-19 cases. Mifepristone, the first in a two-drug chemical abortion regimen, can cause heavy bleeding and incomplete abortions if women take it too late in the pregnancy or during an ectopic pregnancy. The FDA previously said requiring women to get the pill in person assures they understand the possible complications and take the drug in a timely manner.

Dig deeper: Read Leah Hickman’s analysis in Vitals of the safety risks to mothers who have drug-induced abortions.