Supreme Court asked to block ruling restricting remote access to abortion pill
A company that makes mifepristone, Danco Laboratories, requested the Supreme Court block a federal court ruling keeping the abortion pill from being given by mail or telehealth.
In an emergency appeal filed Saturday, Danco said the federal appeals court’s decision injects “immediate confusion and upheaval into highly time-sensitive medical decisions.”
“It forces Danco, FDA, certified mifeprex providers, patients, and pharmacies all to guess at what is allowed and what is not,” Danco wrote. “What should a patient do if she cannot obtain an in-person appointment immediately?”
The “chaos” stemming from these questions is a “quintessential irreparable harm that underscores the need for emergency relief from this Court,” the filing said.
Danco asked for the Supreme Court to hear arguments on the issue, as well as a stay on the appeals court’s decision as the case goes through the lower courts.
Politico reported GenBioPro, another manufacturer of mifepristone, is also expected to appeal the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ ruling, which was released Friday.
In it, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted Louisiana’s request to reinstate a requirement that the abortion drug mifepristone be dispensed in person.
The Food and Drug Administration first ended the rule temporarily in 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic. It then lifted it again, permanently, months after the overturn of Roe v. Wade.
Louisiana, which has an abortion ban, challenged that rule. State officials argued that the agency’s justifications for dispensing mifepristone remotely were based on flawed or nonexistent data. Studies have shown, though, have shown that the pill is effective and safe to use.
Data from the Guttmacher Institute, an organization that supports abortion rights, shows that medication abortion accounts for roughly two out of every three abortions nationwide.
Julia Kaye, senior staff attorney for the Reproductive Freedom Project of the American Civil Liberties Union, said in a statement that losing a telemedicine option for mifepristone could mean “countless people, especially those who live in rural areas, face intimate partner violence, or live with disabilities,” will lose access to the medication altogether.
“Anti-abortion politicians have just made it much harder for people everywhere in the country to get a medication that abortion and miscarriage patients have been safely using for more than 25 years,” Kaye said.
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, meanwhile, called the federal appeals court’s decision “another major victory for Louisiana, but more importantly for LIFE!”
Round out your reading
- Scientists unearth new evidence on how the Grand Canyon was shaped.
- Why the Army is adding a second fitness test for combat.
- Illegal midwives, growing demand: The fight over home birth in America.
- 40 years after Chernobyl, the U.S. pushes nuclear power once again.
- We’re building a new Straight Arrow. Help us shape our future by taking our survey.
Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
