Supreme Court deals conservatives major setback in war on abortion pill

The US Supreme Court on Monday temporarily restored access to mifepristone, a medication commonly used for abortion and early miscarriage care, through the mail while the justices review a decision requiring it to be dispensed in person by a medical provider.

Justice Samuel Alito, who is part of the high court’s right-wing supermajority, oversees the US Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit. He issued a one-week stay for the appellate court’s Friday dispensing decision, which critics had condemned as “sweeping and dangerous.”

“This is not particularly surprising from Alito. He’s the circuit justice here, acting—in essence—until the full court can act,” explained Law Dork’s Chris Geidner. He noted that both Alito and Justice Clarence Thomas, another right-winger, “have issued administrative stays in the past until the full court can rule in similar circumstances, regardless of their ultimate votes on the matters.”

The drug companies Danco Laboratories, which makes the brand-name version of mifepristone, Mifeprex, and GenBioPro, which makes the generic pill, asked the country’s top court to intervene following Friday’s ruling, which threatened patients nationwide.

“Even this Supreme Court can see that this 5th Circuit decision is reckless,” declared Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Action Fund, on Monday. “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 people’s lives and futures.”

Brittany Fonteno, president and CEO of the National Abortion Federation, similarly highlighted how “this back-and-forth has created confusion and chaos,” but welcomed that the high court’s “decision provides critical, if temporary, relief for patients and providers and ensures that people can continue to access this essential medication through telehealth while the court considers the case.”

“The lower court’s ruling disregards the well-established safety and efficacy of the use of mifepristone via telehealth, and any future restriction will create medically unnecessary barriers to care for patients across the country,” Fonteno added. “Mifepristone has been safely used for more than 25 years, and is essential to abortion care and miscarriage management in the United States. For many patients, especially those in rural areas or facing financial and logistical barriers, access to telehealth is a critical component of holistic reproductive healthcare.”

Since the Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade in June 2022, the anti-choice movement and right-wing politicians have ramped up attacks on reproductive freedom at the state level. Meanwhile, the Biden administration’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) permanently lifted mifepristone’s in-person dispensing requirement in early 2023, allowing doctors in pro-choice states to serve patients across the country via telehealth and the mail, regardless of local laws.

Louisiana responded to the eased restrictions on mifepristone—which is generally taken with another drug, misoprostol, for abortions—by suing, which led to the battle that has now reached the Supreme Court. Prior to Friday’s decision by the infamously far-right 5th Circuit, a district judge in the state paused the case due to what the ACLU on Monday called “a sham FDA review announced by the Trump administration,” which is ongoing.

“While this is a positive short-term development, no one can rest easy when our ability to get this safe, effective medication for abortion and miscarriage care still hangs in the balance,” Julia Kaye, senior staff attorney for the ACLU’s Reproductive Freedom Project, stressed Monday. “The Supreme Court needs to put an end to this baseless attack on our reproductive freedom, once and for all.”