The Supreme Court keeps abortion pill mifepristone available by telehealth

Abortion-rights activists protested outside of the Supreme Court in March 2024, when the overall FDA authorization of the abortion pill mifepristone. It remained available after that case. Jose Luis Magana/AP hide caption toggle caption Jose Luis Magana/AP 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. …