US Supreme Court restores abortion pill access for now

Louisiana argued that nationwide postage of the drug interfered with the state's own abortion ban.Earlier this month, in response to the lawsuit, an appeals court temporarily reinstated a requirement that abortion pills be obtained in person. "Every abortion facilitated by FDA's action cancels Louisiana's ban on medical abortions and undermines its policy that 'every unborn child is human being from the moment of conception and is, therefore, a legal person," the appeals court wrote in that order.Two mifepristone manufacturers then asked the Supreme Court to weigh in while they prepared to bring an emergency case before the court. The ruling, which is called a stay, issued on Thursday was part of the court's emergency docket and came with no reasoning attached. It will remain in place until the justices decide whether to hear the manufacturers' case.Thomas wrote in his dissent that since sending mifepristone by mail is illegal in Louisiana, the drug manufacturers are not entitled to block a court order "based on lost profits from their criminal enterprise."mifepristone is the first of a two-pill regimen recommended by the FDA to end a pregnancy. It is widely available in states where abortion is legal.The drugs' availability was expanded in April 2021, when the FDA said it would lift the in-person dispensing requirement for mifepristone for the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic.