Federal Court Blocks Mailing of Abortion Pill Mifepristone. Here’s What to Know

In this photo illustration, packages of Mifepristone tablets are displayed at a family planning clinic on April 13, 2023 in Rockville, Maryland —Anna Moneymaker—Getty ImagesA federal appeals court on Friday banned the mailing of the popular prescription abortion drug mifepristone, dealing a major blow to reproductive rights across the United States.    The Fifth Circuit’s unanimous ruling temporarily reinstated an in-person dispensing requirement, blocking a 2023 Food and Drug Administration (FDA) policy that allowed the drug to be prescribed via telehealth and delivered by mail.   State attorneys argued that the mailing process subverted state bans on abortion and that it should be prescribed only in person or at clinics. “The regulation creates an effective way for an out-of-state prescriber to place the drug in the hands of Louisianans in defiance of Louisiana law,” wrote Circuit Judge Kyle Duncan, of the New Orleans-based court.Read More: For the First Time Since Roe v. Wade Was Overturned, Abortions Appear to Be DecreasingThe ban will be challenged at the Supreme Court In response, Danco Laboratories, a manufacturer of the pill, asked the Supreme Court on Saturday to reinstate mail access to the drug, marking the potential for one of the biggest Supreme Court decisions on abortion since Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which reversed the constitutional right to abortion, returning authority on the issue to state governments. Since the overturning of Roe v. Wade, around one in four abortions occur via telehealth appointments. Should the Supreme Court allow the block to stand, patients would have even less access to…

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