Photo Credit: Getty Images
The U.S. Supreme Court has temporarily blocked a lower court’s ruling that would have restricted nationwide access to the abortion pill mifepristone. Justice Samuel Alito issued the orders on Monday, staying a decision from the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals until at least May 11. This provisional hold maintains the current availability of the medication while the high court reviews the emergency challenge.
The temporary pause gives the high court time to consider next steps in the case as it weighs separate emergency requests filed by drugmakers Danco and GenBioPro.
The nationwide availability of mifepristone was cast into jeopardy Friday when the appeals court granted Louisiana's request to void Biden administration rules that allowed the drug to be administered without an in-person meeting, meaning it can in theory be mailed anywhere in the country, even in states with strict abortion bans.
Alexis McGill Johnson, president of abortion rights group Planned Parenthood Action Fund, welcomed the decision.
"While mifepristone access returns to where it was on Friday morning, the whiplash and chaos that patients and providers are navigating have already had real consequences for real peoples’ lives and futures," she said in a statement.
Anti-abortion groups have been pushing for years to reinstate the in-person dispensing requirement, alleging that taking mifepristone at home can be dangerous — despite studies that have found it to be safe and effective.
Danco makes Mifeprex, the brand-name version of mifepristone, while GenBioPro makes a generic version.
Alito ordered Louisiana to file its response to the companies' request by the end of the day Thursday.
