The conservative 5th Circuit has blocked part of a Texas judge’s decision to pull abortion drug mifepristone off the market, but leaves in place onerous and outdated restrictions that the Food and Drug Administration determined in 2016 were medically unnecessary.
By rolling back the clock, the appeals court’s ruling increases the number of medical consultations required; bars the use of telehealth or mail-order pharmacies to fill prescriptions; and says mifepristone can be used only through seven weeks of pregnancy, rather than 10. It’s now up to the Supreme Court — which rolled abortion rights back to 1972 last year — to decide what happens next. The Justice Department said Thursday it would ask the high court to intervene immediately.
Medication has transformed the landscape of abortion in the U.S., which is why abortion foes are targeting it. Pandemic-era changes to FDA rules allowed the pills to be prescribed remotely and dispensed through the mail, and the agency recently announced that retail pharmacies would also be able to dispense the drug as long as they obtained a special license.
