Supreme Court Permits Mail-Order Mifepristone While Appeal Plays Out
The Supreme Court has ruled that mail-order mifepristone can continue while a legal challenge to the practice works through the courts, CNBC reported Thursday. The decision preserves access to the abortion drug for now, though the underlying dispute remains unresolved.
What the Court Decided
The justices extended a temporary stay they had first issued on May 4, effectively blocking a nationwide ban that the 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals imposed on May 1. The majority did not disclose the vote count or offer any written reasoning. Two conservative justices, Justice Clarence Thomas and Justice Samuel Alito, filed separate written dissents opposing the order.
Drugmakers Danco Laboratories and GenBioPro had petitioned the court to suspend the 5th Circuit ruling. That ruling had placed a sweeping halt on mailing mifepristone across the country while a lawsuit brought by Louisiana proceeded.
Background to the Dispute
Louisiana, which prohibits abortion in nearly all circumstances, sued the Food and Drug Administration over a 2023 regulatory change that dropped a long-standing requirement for mifepristone to be dispensed only in person. The FDA removed that rule roughly one year after the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overturned Roe v. Wade, ending a federal constitutional right to abortion that had stood for nearly five decades. A federal district court initially rejected Louisiana’s request to block mail orders while the case played out, prompting the state to escalate to the 5th Circuit.
Dissenting Justices Make Sharp Arguments
Thomas argued the pharmaceutical companies failed to meet the legal threshold for emergency relief. He also invoked the Comstock Act, a nineteenth-century federal statute that prohibits using the postal system to ship drugs intended for use in abortions, contending the firms could not claim harm from an order limiting what he characterized as unlawful conduct.
Alito, writing independently, described the majority’s stay as “remarkable” and framed the core issue as preserving each state’s authority to regulate abortion within its own borders following Dobbs. He argued the order effectively undermined that principle without explanation.
What Comes Next
The case returns to the 5th Circuit for a full merits hearing. Mail-order access to mifepristone remains intact in the interim, though the court’s eventual ruling could reimpose restrictions. Pharmaceutical companies and reproductive-health providers are watching the proceedings closely given the drug accounts for a substantial share of medication abortions in the United States.
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