Supreme Court Continues Access to Abortion Pill by Mail, for a Few Days

A widely used abortion medication will continue to be available by mail nationwide for at least the next three days, according to a brief order issued on Monday by Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr.

The Supreme Court is currently considering an emergency request to halt a lower-court ruling that would make it more difficult for women throughout the country to access the medication mifepristone.

Justice Alito, who oversees such requests from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, extended a pause on that court’s ruling that he first ordered last week until 5 p.m. on May 14, suggesting that the full Supreme Court was still deliberating how to resolve the matter.

The order, known as an administrative stay, will allow health care providers, for now, to continue to prescribe the pill by telemedicine and to deliver the medication to pregnant women by mail, a major avenue for abortion access throughout the country.

The justices are considering a request from two mifepristone manufacturers that rushed to the Supreme Court after the conservative U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit restricted access to the pills. The Fifth Circuit reimposed a requirement that patients obtain the medication only after seeing a provider in person. That requirement was first lifted in 2021, making it possible for people in Louisiana and other states with abortion bans to receive the pills through the mail.

Louisiana officials sued the Food and Drug Administration, seeking to revive the restrictions, which the state says have undermined its near-total ban on abortion.