The US Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that the abortion pill mifepristone can continue to be prescribed online or over the phone and sent through the mail. This decision preserves nationwide access to medication abortion, which has become the most common way of ending pregnancies in the United States.
The court extended a pause on a lower court ruling that would have blocked telehealth prescriptions and mail distribution, which had briefly required patients to make an in-person visit to a provider. The legal battle began when Louisiana sued the US Food and Drug Administration to curtail its rules on prescribing mifepristone remotely, arguing that such practices interfered with the state's ban on abortion.
Danco Laboratories and GenBioPro, two drugmakers, had asked the Supreme Court to lift the appeals court ban on the drug's distribution via mail. Access to mifepristone at pharmacies or through the mail is likely to remain uninterrupted at least into next year as the legal appeal and high-profile challenge continue.