A federal appeals court has restricted access to one of the most common methods of abortion in the United States by blocking the mailing of prescriptions for mifepristone. The New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the abortion pill must be distributed only in-person at clinics, overturning a previous policy that allowed telemedicine prescriptions.
Court Ruling and Rationale
The panel stated that "every abortion facilitated by FDA’s action cancels Louisiana’s ban on medical abortions and undermines its policy that ‘every unborn child is human being from the moment of conception and is, therefore, a legal person.’" This decision highlights the ongoing legal battles surrounding reproductive rights since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.
Impact on Abortion Access
Since the 2022 Supreme Court ruling that allowed states to enforce abortion bans, prescriptions by mail have become a major channel for providing abortions, including to states where bans are in place. Julia Kaye, an ACLU lawyer, warned: "This is going to affect patients’ access to abortion and miscarriage care in every state in the nation. When telemedicine is restricted, rural communities, people with low incomes, people with disabilities, survivors of intimate partner violence and communities of color suffer the most."
Potential Supreme Court Appeal
The decision sets up a likely appeal to the Supreme Court. The conservative-majority high court overturned abortion as a nationwide right in 2022 but unanimously preserved access to mifepristone two years later. However, that 2024 decision sidestepped the core issues by ruling that the anti-abortion doctors behind the case lacked legal standing to sue.
