Sawt Falasteen - US Supreme Court temporarily restores mail access to abortion pill

The top court's order restores mail access to mifepristone, which is used in the majority of abortions in the United States, until at least May 11.

A three-judge panel of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals had halted mail delivery of mifepristone on Friday in a lawsuit brought by the southern state of Louisiana, which has some of the strictest anti-abortion laws in the country, against the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Danco Laboratories, which manufactures mifepristone, asked the Supreme Court for a one-week pause on the appeals court order while it prepares to bring an emergency case to the top court.

The Supreme Court agreed without explanation to block the appeals court ruling until at least May 11 while the parties file legal briefs.

The 5th Circuit ruling requires women seeking abortions anywhere in the United States to obtain mifepristone in person from health clinics and bans delivery by mail or through a pharmacy.

The conservative-dominated appeals court overturned a lower court ruling that allowed mifepristone to continue to be delivered by mail while the FDA conducts a review of its regulations regarding the drug.

Mifepristone has been approved by the FDA since 2000 and is also routinely used for managing early miscarriages.

Anti-abortion activists, however, have called the drug's safety into question, with some citing a study conducted by a conservative think tank that never underwent a formal peer review.

Mifepristone, which prevents pregnancy progression, and misoprostol, which empties the uterus, are approved to terminate a pregnancy up to 70 days of gestation in the United States.

Some 20 states have banned or restricted abortion since the Supreme Court in June 2022 overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling that enshrined the constitutional right to abortion for half a century.

Polls show a majority of Americans support continued access to safe abortion, even as conservative groups push to limit the procedure or ban it outright.

In 2024, the US Supreme Court rejected a bid to restrict mifepristone, ruling that anti-abortion groups and doctors challenging the medication lacked the legal standing to bring the case.

R.Shaban--SF-PST