Supreme Court Allows Mail-Order Abortions to Continue

The Supreme Court extended the stay on a lower-court ban on mailing the abortion pill.

This means the dangerous abortion pill mifepristone can still be mailed to customers nationwide while the lower court addresses a case from Louisiana seeking to stop them nationwide long-term.

The high court’s temporary stay, issued on May 8, expired at 5 p.m. ET Thursday. The court extended the stay today while the case continues. Justice Clarence Thomas and Justice Samuel Alito, dissented.

The case was brought by Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill, who argued the FDA failed to adequately consider the safety of the abortion drug.

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Earlier this month, responding to requests from two makers of the dangerous abortion pill, the Supreme Court reversed the block on mail-order abortions the 5^th Circuit Appeals Court put in place.

The makers of the abortion pill mifepristone asked the Supreme Court on Saturday to overturn a federal appeals court ruling that temporarily blocks the mailing of the drug nationwide.

The ruling has the potential to save tens of thousands of babies from abortions and thousands of women from medical problems or even death.

But abortion drug maker Danco Laboratories filed an emergency application seeking to lift the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit’s order, which on Friday reinstated the requirement that mifepristone be dispensed in person. The requirement protects women’s health and could save thousands of babies.

GenBioPro, another manufacturer, filed a similar request.

The 5th Circuit sided with Louisiana, which sued the Biden administration over its policy allowing telemedicine prescriptions and mail delivery of the abortion pill. The state argued the changes undermined its abortion ban and forced it to spend Medicaid funds on emergency care for women harmed by the drug. The ruling restores the in-person dispensing safeguard the FDA had lifted during the COVID-19 pandemic and made permanent in 2023 under Joe Biden.

Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill praised the appeals court decision.

“The Biden abortion cartel facilitated the deaths of thousands of Louisiana babies (and millions in other states) through illegal mail-order abortion pills,” Murrill said. “Today, that nightmare is over, thanks to the hard work of my office and our friends at Alliance Defending Freedom. I look forward to continuing to defend women and babies as this case continues.”

Pro-life groups called the ruling an important victory for women’s safety and the protection of unborn children.

National Right to Life President Carol Tobias said it was “an important step toward restoring common-sense medical safeguards that were recklessly discarded by the Biden administration in the rush to expand abortion pill access.”

She noted that mail-order abortion drugs bypass basic protections such as physical exams, accurate pregnancy dating and screening for ectopic pregnancy.

The Supreme Court has not yet acted on the manufacturers’ requests.

Mifepristone, approved by the FDA in 2000, accounts for nearly two-thirds of abortion deaths in the United States.

A recent analysis of commercial insurance claims involving 865,727 mifepristone prescriptions from 2017 to 2023. It found 94,605 women — nearly 11% — suffered serious complications within 45 days, including hemorrhage in 3.31% of cases, emergency room visits in 4.73%, and sepsis in 0.10%.

Peer-reviewed research found three quarters of ER visits within 30 days after abortion drug use were coded as severe or critical. Two separate, independent studies also found more than 1 in 10 women experience at least one severe adverse event. Complications can include hemorrhaging, infection, sepsis, and even death.

Other issues encompassed infections, transfusions, hospitalizations and life-threatening events like cardiac problems or anaphylaxis. In nearly 3% of cases, the drug failed, requiring surgical follow-up. Multiple women have died from the abortion pill.

A large national poll found 7 in 10 voters want to roll back Biden’s mail-order abortion drug rule and reinstate safeguards like in-person doctor visits.