US Supreme Court restores abortion pill access for now

BBC:

The Supreme Court has ruled that the abortion pill mifepristone can continue to be accessed by mail.

Two manufacturers that make the pill had asked the Supreme Court to intervene after a lower court placed significant restrictions on access to mifepristone as part of an ongoing lawsuit.

Thursday’s order from the high court blocks those limitations while litigation plays out. Access to the pill will likely remain until that lawsuit is decided, which could happen next year.

Abortion pills are the most common method of terminating pregnancies in the US – especially in states where abortion is banned.

The Supreme Court’s most conservative justices, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, dissented.

In 2023, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) allowed doctors to send pills without seeing patients in person, giving women the ability to receive the pills by mail or at a pharmacy through telemedicine.

The state of Louisiana sued the FDA last October in an effort to prevent delivery of mifepristone.