US Supreme Court Allows Access to Abortion Pills by Mail While Case Proceeds
The Supreme Court is allowing women to keep receiving the abortion drug mifepristone by mail while a broader lawsuit continues.
The court's order on Thursday allows women seeking abortions to obtain mifepristone without an in-person visit to a doctor. That means access is likely to remain uninterrupted until well into next year as appeals play out in a suit filed by Louisiana, which is fighting to enforce its abortion restrictions against those who bypass them by sending abortion drugs through the mail.
Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented, with Thomas writing that the two companies in the case, Danco Laboratories and GenBioPro, are not entitled to be spared from “lost profits from their criminal enterprise.”
Alito concurred that Danco and GenBioPro “are obviously aware of what is going on yet nevertheless supply the drug and reap profits from its felonious use in Louisiana."
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On May 1st, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit had temporarily blocked the mail delivery of the abortion pill while the case proceeds. Pro-abortion groups then asked the Supreme Court to intervene, and the high court has overturned that restriction.
The case challenges Biden administration rules that have allowed the drug to be given without a doctor's visit, creating a loophole to ship the drugs to women in states that have abortion restrictions, bypassing their state laws.
The fight over mifepristone isn't just a battle over abortion access. It's also about women's safety. Pro-life groups are pushing the FDA to move faster with a review that they hope will restore protective measures.
That comes after a shocking study released in 2025 found that mifepristone – long-touted by the FDA as "safe and effective" – is actually "far more dangerous" and puts women at significant risk of life-threatening complications.
The Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC) released that analysis of data from more than 865,000 women who were prescribed mifepristone and found that many of the participants had serious adverse side effects from the drug.
In nearly 11% of the cases, women experienced sepsis, infection, hemorrhaging, or other serious adverse events within 45 days of taking the drug.
And more than one in 20 women ended up undergoing secondary abortions after the abortion pills they initially ingested failed, according to the study. That's more than 5% of women who had to pursue a repeat abortion within 45 days of taking mifepristone.
A total of 45,498 women needed a second abortion after the pill failed to terminate the life in their womb fully. Of those women, 24,563 had to pursue a surgical abortion.
"In light of this research, we urge the FDA to reinstate earlier, stronger patient safety protocols and reconsider its approval of mifepristone altogether. Women deserve better than the abortion pill," urged the study's authors Ryan Anderson and Jamie Bryan Hall. "Simply stated, mifepristone, as used in real-world conditions, is not 'safe and effective.'"
Another study also found more than one in 10 women faced "serious adverse event(s) after taking mifepristone in 2023. That additional analysis, commissioned by the Foundation for the Restoration of America, revealed that about 11.2% of women suffered critical health complications, which could include hemorrhaging, the need for blood transfusions, emergency room visits, or sepsis.
* EXPOSED: Abortion Pill Causes Severe, Fatal Side Effects for Women - 'The FDA Has Failed Miserably.'
ABORTION PILL REVERSAL:
- Reversing Regret: Procedure Stops Abortions in Progress
- Regret Taking an Abortion Pill? You Can Reverse It, but States Are Debating if Doctors Should Tell You
- She Took an Abortion Pill, Then Realized It Was a 'Major Mistake.' Here's How She Saved Her Baby's Life
- Pro-Life Doctor Who Helped Women with 'Abortion Pill Reversal' Vindicated by UK Medical Council
