Supreme Court restores access to abortion pill mifepristone through telehealth, mail and pharmacies

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WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Monday restored broad access to the abortion pill mifepristone, blocking a ruling that had threatened to upend one of the main ways abortions are provided across the nation.

The order signed by Justice Samuel Alito temporarily allows women seeking abortions to obtain the pill at pharmacies or through the mail, without an in-person visit to a doctor.

Those rules had been in effect for several years until a federal appeals court imposed new restrictions last week.

The majority of abortions in the U.S. are obtained through medications, usually a combination of mifepristone and a second drug, misoprostol. The availability of those drugs has blunted the impact of abortion bans that most Republican-led states have sought to enforce since a 2022 Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade.

Louisiana sued to restrict access to mifepristone, asserting that its availability undermined the ban there.

Some Democratic-led states have laws that seek to give legal protection to those who prescribe the drugs via telehealth to patients in states with bans.

Alito's order will remain in effect for another week while both sides respond and the court more fully considers the issue.

Manufacturers of mifepristone filed emergency appeals asking the Supreme Court to step in.

Kristan Hawkins, president of the anti-abortion group Students for Life, decried Monday's decision.

"Pill pushers receive every benefit of the doubt, including today, as Justice Alito allows pill traffickers and big pharma to operate temporarily while arguments are sent to the Court,” she said in a statement.

After Friday's ruling from the appeals court, some groups that prescribe abortion pills by telehealth had planned to switch to misoprostol-only regimens.

Dr. Angel Foster, founder of The Massachusetts Abortion Access Project, said her organization was preparing to send misoprostol only on Monday afternoon but was able to switch back.

“Regardless of what happens with this regulatory issue, we and other groups will continue to provide high-quality abortion are to patients in all 50 states,” she said.

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Mulvihill reported from Haddonfield, New Jersey.

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