The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday restored nationwide access to the widely used abortion medication mifepristone, slamming the door on a court ruling from last Friday that threatened to close off the main way people in Texas and other states with abortion bans access the procedure.
The order by Justice Samuel Alito temporarily allows those seeking abortions to obtain the pills at pharmacies or via the mail without being forced to seek an in-person consultation with a doctor, the New York Times reports. The pause is in effect until at least May 11, during which time parties in the case are expected to file briefs for the full Supreme Court.
Last Friday’s ruling by New Orleans’ 5th Circuit Court of Appeals — the nation’s most conservative appeals panel — came about because the state of Louisiana sued the Food and Drug Administration to block access to mifepristone. Louisiana’s lawyers argued patients’ ability to order the pills by mail skirted the state’s almost complete ban on abortion.
The 5th Circuit’s ruling would have huge repercussions for patients Texas and other states where abortion has been outlawed or severely restricted since the high court threw out Roe v. Wade.
Roughly 12,330 abortions nationwide are provided monthly through so-called shield laws that allow people to order abortion medication from states in which the procedure remains legal, according to the Society of Family Planning. One in four abortions provided in 2024 were obtained via telemedicine, according to the organization.
The Supreme Court’s order was widely expected, but provided vital interim protection for doctors and abortions whose plans were thrown into chaos by the 5th Circuit’s ruling, according to the New York Times. Monday’s administrative stay, sought by two manufacturers of mifepristone, doesn’t offer a clear sign of how the full court may rule on the case, however.
Alexis McGill Johnson, president of abortion-rights advocate Planned Parenthood Action Fund, told NBC News that even the brief ban imposed by the 5th Circuit had repercussions for those seeking safe and legal abortion care.
“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 peoples’ lives and futures,” she said in a statement provided to the news outlet.
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The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that mifepristone must be obtained in person.
Paxton’s suit follows another by a Galveston County man against the same doctor. Both cite House Bill 7, passed in September, that allows lawsuits over abortion pill access.