Supreme Court temporarily restores telehealth access to abortion pill — including in Texas
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The Supreme Court on Monday temporarily restored mail-order access to the abortion pill mifepristone, preserving — at least for now — access to the medication in Texas despite the state's near-total abortion ban.
Why it matters: The ruling pauses for at least a week an appeals court decision on Friday that dramatically limited access to the pills.
- It doesn't settle an underlying legal challenge to rules for dispensing the drug, potentially making abortion access a top-tier issue heading into the midterms, but it's likely to reduce confusion among pharmacies, telehealth firms and providers over what's allowed.
Catch up quick: A federal appeals court on Friday blocked a 2023 Food and Drug Administration rule that allowed doctors to prescribe mifepristone remotely and send it by mail — a route used by Texans seeking abortion pills from out-of-state virtual providers.
- There are an estimated thousands of telehealth prescriptions each month in states that ban abortion.
Zoom in: For Texans, it's not a crime or a civil offense to order medication abortion, ACLU Texas attorney Sarah Corning tells Axios. State law largely targets providers.
Between the lines: House Bill 7, which Gov. Greg Abbott signed last year, allows lawsuits of up to $100,000 against doctors and distributors of abortion pills like mifepristone. But 22 states have "shield laws" protecting providers who help patients in states with bans like Texas.
- Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing some out-of-state providers, testing those protections.
Driving the news: The Supreme Court acted after drugmakers Danco Laboratories and GenBioPro asked justices to restore access to mifepristone via telehealth and mail.
- Responses from parties in the underlying case have until Thursday to file responses.
The order was in response to a 5th Circuit ruling, which sided with Louisiana in a case challenging Biden administration rules that expanded access to mifepristone.
- Louisiana argued the federal rules undermined its laws protecting unborn human life and caused it to spend Medicaid funds on emergency care for women harmed by mifepristone.