The United States Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that telehealth providers may continue to temporarily prescribe the abortion drug mifepristone and send it to patients nationwide by mail.
Thursday’s verdict followed an emergency application filed by two manufacturers of mifepristone — Danco Laboratories and GenBioPro — asking the apex court to set aside an order by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit restricting access to the medication via mail nationwide.
In a response to a lawsuit filed by the State of Louisiana seeking to reimpose the policy mandating that patients must see a provider in person before they can obtain mifepristone, the Fifth Circuit Court, on May 1, granted the application, allowing states with strict abortion bans to prohibit mail delivery of the medication.
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Meanwhile, the Supreme Court’s latest 7-2 majority decision means that the appeals court’s judgment will not be enforced for now, while the parties involved continue their litigation in lower courts.
The case may eventually return to the apex court in the upcoming months.
In 2023, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ended a requirement to prescribe mifepristone in person, paving the way for remote dispensation via telehealth. Abortion pills now account for nearly two-thirds of the U.S. abortions, with around one-quarter provided through telehealth.
The apex court’s majority didn’t write opinions in their unsigned order, but two conservative justices, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito Jr dissented, with the former calling mailing of mifepristone to patients “a criminal enterprise”.
Despite the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade in 2022, which ultimately terminated nationwide abortion rights, litigation over access to the procedure have continued.
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