In the case, Louisiana v. FDA, the United Sates Supreme Court issued an indefinite stay allowing mail-order abortion drugs to continue to be sent to women without an in-person physician visit while litigation continues. The justices’ decision will block a previous ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which would require patients to obtain the medication only in-person from a physician.
The request by Danco Laboratories and GenBioPro allows Mifepristone to be prescribed via telehealth and sent directly to patients through the mail, including states like Texas with laws protecting life from conception.
Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented, arguing that the drug companies “cannot, in any legally relevant sense, be irreparably harmed by a court order that makes it more difficult for them to commit crimes.” Thomas and Alito said that Danco and GenBioPro failed to demonstrate they would suffer irreparable harm without the stay, according to a press release. Justice Alito wrote that “equity demands that profits from unlawful activity be surrendered, not protected.”
“It is tremendously disheartening that the lives, health, and future fertility of women will continue to be placed in danger by mail-order chemical abortion drugs,” Amy O’Donnell, director of Texas Alliance for Life Executive. “Texas laws protect both women and their unborn children from the moment of conception. The federal government must stop undermining them.”
Leading medical association endorses the FDA’s evidence-based decision to lift the in-person dispensing requirement, while abortion advocacy groups continue to defend and protect a woman’s ability to make her own health care decisions.
“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,” Julia Kaye, senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s Reproductive Freedom Project, said. “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.”
The status quo remains in place indefinitely while Louisiana’s lawsuit against the FDA proceeds through the lower courts.
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