Supreme Court temporarily blocks appeals court ruling on abortion pill, restores wider access to drug
The Supreme Court on Monday temporarily blocked a federal appeals court ruling that would have sharply restricted access to the abortion pill, restoring, for now, the ability of patients to...
By Fox News · Fox News
The Supreme Court on Monday temporarily blocked a federal appeals court ruling that would have sharply restricted access to the abortion pill, restoring, for now, the ability of patients to obtain the drug through telehealth, mail and pharmacies. The order signed by Justice Samuel Alito temporarily allows women seeking abortions to obtain the pill without an in-person visit to a doctor, a temporary legal victory for abortion activists. A federal appeals court had imposed new restrictions on the abortion pill last week. "It is good to see SCOTUS issue this stay to immediately restore access by mail to mifepristone," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said, responding to the ruling on X. "But this fight is just beginning." FEDERAL APPEALS COURT BLOCKS MAILING OF ABORTION PILLS IN RULING WITH NATIONWIDE EFFECT "We will stop at nothing to prevent the Republicans from putting a national abortion ban into effect," he added. The majority of abortions in the United States 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 many 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. NEW YORK GOV. HOCHUL SIGNS LAW PROTECTING ABORTION PILL PRESCRIBERS AFTER DOCTOR INDICTED IN LOUISIANA The administrative stay remains in effect until at least May 11 at 5 p.m., giving the state time to respond to requests for a longer pause, and for the high court to take up the case on the merits. "This ruling is not final — keep watching," Center for Reproductive Rights President and CEO Nancy Northup wrote in a statement. "Getting abortion pills through telehealth has been a lifeline for women since Roe v. Wade was overturned. There is no reason people shouldn’t be able to get mifepristone at a…