Federal Watchdog Agency Says Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Programs Must Contain Medically Accurate Information!

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court today granted an emergency request to block a lower court decision imposing a nationwide prohibition on mail and pharmacy access to mifepristone, a safe and effective medication used in nearly two-thirds of U.S. abortions as well as for early miscarriage care. The Court’s order in Louisiana v. U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) maintains the status quo that has been in place for more than five years while the litigation returns to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals for the normal appeals process. The Louisiana case is very similar to an earlier lawsuit by abortion opponents, in which the Supreme Court unanimously found in 2024 that the plaintiffs did not have legal standing. The Court’s order preserves the status quo and denies, for now, Louisiana’s effort to force patients to obtain their mifepristone in person at a hospital, clinic, or medical office rather than filling their prescription by mail or at a local pharmacy after receiving care through telemedicine. Notably, the Trump administration did not join the mifepristone manufacturers in asking the Supreme Court to step in, and in the lower courts criticized FDA’s evidence-based decision to lift the in-person dispensing requirement, a decision which every leading medical association endorses. “While it is good news that, for now, patients can continue to get this safe medication by mail and at pharmacies as they have for more than five years, we all know abortion opponents are continuing their unpopular and baseless attacks,” said Julia Kaye, senior staff attorney for the Reproductive Freedom Project of the ACLU. “And let’s be clear about the Trump administration’s role here: when nationwide access to a critical abortion and miscarriage medication was on the line, the Trump administration refused to defend the FDA’s action and threw patients under the bus. The American people have made clear time and again that they oppose political efforts to interfere with their ability to make their own health care decisions — and the ACLU will keep fighting with them every step of the way.” Today, more than 1 in 4 people in the U.S. who have an abortion do so using telemedicine and mail or pharmacy dispensing. Without this method of care delivery, patients using mifepristone would be forced to travel, sometimes hundreds of miles, to a health center just to pick up a pill, a requirement that leading medical authorities agree has no safety benefit. A range of experts submitted amicus briefs in the Supreme Court opposing this nationwide restriction as medically unjustified and harmful. FDA lifted the in-person dispensing requirement in 2021 — but anti-abortion politicians have sought to reinstate this and other restrictions through the federal courts. At the same time, the Trump administration is moving forward with a sham FDA review that is itself a thinly veiled attempt to lay the groundwork for additional medically unjustified restrictions on mifepristone.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court today entered an administrative stay, granting a one-week pause of an order by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reinstating a restriction on mail and pharmacy access to mifepristone, a safe and effective medication used in nearly two-thirds of U.S. abortions as well as for early miscarriage care. The case, Louisiana v. U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), will now proceed on the Court’s emergency docket — where the Court will decide whether to allow the Fifth Circuit’s medically unnecessary nationwide restriction to take effect while the litigation proceeds. Doing so would upend how patients obtain this medication all across the country. “While this is a positive short-term development, no one can rest easy when our ability to get this safe, effective medication for abortion and miscarriage care still hangs in the balance,” said Julia Kaye, senior staff attorney for the Reproductive Freedom Project of the ACLU. “The Supreme Court needs to put an end to this baseless attack on our reproductive freedom, once and for all.” The stay was requested by two manufacturers of mifepristone following the Fifth Circuit’s ruling reinstating a nationwide requirement that patients obtain mifepristone in person at a health center, rather than by mail or at a pharmacy after receiving care through telemedicine. FDA’s 2021 decision to lift this medically unjustified requirement was based on extensive scientific evidence and endorsed by every leading medical association — but anti-abortion politicians have sought to reinstate this and other restrictions through the federal courts and through a sham FDA review announced by the Trump Administration last year. Today, more than 1 in 4 people in the U.S. who have an abortion do so using telemedicine. Without this method of care delivery, patients using mifepristone would be forced to travel, sometimes hundreds of miles, to a health center just to pick up a pill, a requirement that leading medical authorities agree has no safety benefit. While there are other safe and effective medication abortion regimens that may continue to be available by mail and at pharmacies, mifepristone has long been part of the most common and recommended protocol in the United States and is used in a majority of all U.S. abortions today. The stay will remain in effect until 5 pm. ET on May 11th. The Supreme Court has ordered Louisiana to file its brief by Thursday, May 7 at 5 pm ET.

Anti-abortion politicians in Louisiana filed a federal lawsuit seeking to impose a nationwide restriction on mail and pharmacy access to mifepristone, a safe and effective medication used in nearly two-thirds of U.S. abortions as well as for early miscarriage care. On May 1st, a federal appeals court granted Louisiana's request, throwing abortion access across the country into turmoil. On May 4th, the Supreme Court put that ruling on hold for one week, until May 11th, while it considers whether to block it for a longer period of time, restoring patients' ability to get mifepristone through telemedicine for now.

NEW ORLEANS — A federal appeals court today ordered a severe nationwide restriction on mifepristone, a safe and effective medication used in nearly two-thirds of U.S. abortions as well as for early miscarriage care. The ruling in Louisiana v. FDA by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals grants Louisiana’s extraordinary request to reinstate a nationwide requirement, lifted by FDA in 2021, that patients obtain mifepristone in person at a health center, rather than by mail or at a pharmacy after receiving care through telemedicine, while Louisiana’s appeal proceeds. The appellate court’s order overrides a lower court’s ruling earlier this month pausing the case while the Trump administration conducts a FDA review that is itself a thinly veiled attempt to lay the groundwork for additional medically unjustified restrictions on mifepristone. “Anti-abortion politicians have just made it much harder for people everywhere in the country to get a medication that abortion and miscarriage patients have been safely using for more than 25 years,” said Julia Kaye, senior staff attorney for the Reproductive Freedom Project of the ACLU. “Louisiana’s legal attack on mifepristone shamelessly packaged lies and propaganda as an excuse to restrict abortion — and the Fifth Circuit rubber-stamped it. This decision defies clear science and settled law and advances an anti-abortion agenda that is deeply unpopular with the American people. For countless people, especially those who live in rural areas, face intimate partner violence, or live with disabilities, losing a telemedicine option will mean losing access to this vital medication altogether.” If the U.S. Supreme Court does not block this ruling, the Fifth Circuit’s order will upend how miscarriage and abortion care are currently delivered across the country. Today, more than 1 in 4 people in the U.S. who have an abortion do so using telemedicine. Without this method of care delivery, patients using mifepristone would be forced to travel, sometimes hundreds of miles, to a health center just to pick up a pill, a requirement that leading medical authorities agree has no safety benefit. While there are other safe and effective medication abortion regimens that may continue to be available by mail and at pharmacies, mifepristone has long been part of the most common and recommended protocol in the United States—with the highest efficacy and fewest side effects—and is used in nearly two-thirds of all U.S. abortions today. The FDA’s 2021 decision to lift its in-person dispensing requirement, made permanent in January 2023, was based on high-quality research and real-world data from tens of thousands of patients in the United States and globally and is supported by preeminent medical authorities. Despite abundant proof that mifepristone has been safely used by millions of patients for more than 25 years — and that people nationwide support access to medication abortion — anti-abortion politicians and groups continue to push for further federal restrictions on this essential medication to further their agenda of ending all abortion access.