The Supreme Court decided to keep the status quo in place for medication abortion access Thursday.
The high court's order means the abortion pill mifepristone will remain available via telehealth as a case brought by Louisiana against the Food and Drug Administration proceeds through the lower courts.
The Supreme Court stayed a May 1 ruling from the New Orleans-based, U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals which would have banned mifepristone from being mailed. The appeals court ruling would have applied to the whole country, not just states like Louisiana that have abortion bans.
Thursday's decision came in the form of order from the court issued around 5:30 p.m., about 30 minutes past a deadline the court set for itself.
Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas dissented publicly.
The appeals court ruling would have re-instituted prescribing regulations from before the pandemic that required patients to receive mifepristone in person in a doctor's office or clinic.
The FDA determined that in-person dispensing of mifepristone was medically unnecessary in 2021. The state of Louisiana sued the FDA last fall, arguing that telemedicine access undermines the state's abortion ban.
This week, FDA's commissioner Dr. Marty Makary resigned under pressure from the White House. It's not clear if this lawsuit played a role in his ouster, but anti-abortion rights groups were vocal about their displeasure with how little he did to restrict abortion in that role.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
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