Louisiana presses US Supreme Court to halt abortion pill mail delivery
Source: Reuters
May 7, 2026 5:38 PM EDT Updated 11 hours ago
May 7 (Reuters) - Louisiana urged the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday to prevent abortion pills from being prescribed through telemedicine and distributed by mail, as the Republican-led state presses its case to overturn a 2023 federal rule that made access to the medication easier. Republican Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill's office in a filing asked the justices to deny emergency requests by two manufacturers of the abortion pill to lift a lower court's decision that narrowed access to it by blocking the regulation nationwide while the state's legal challenge continues.
The regulation concerning the medication, called mifepristone, was issued by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration during Democrat Joe Biden's presidency. Murrill's office said the regulation has allowed medication abortions to skyrocket despite the state's near-total ban on abortion. "Notwithstanding Louisiana's policy and laws, hundreds of abortions are occurring every month in Louisiana. That is the predictable consequence of a drug war enabled by President Biden's FDA," the office said in the filing.
The rule is currently in effect following an interim order by the Supreme Court on Monday that temporarily paused the decision by the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in favor of Louisiana. That action was intended to give the justices time to decide on the requests by mifepristone makers Danco Laboratories and GenBioPro.
The case has thrust the contentious issue of abortion back in front of the justices as abortion opponents again try to scale back access to mifepristone, with the November U.S. congressional elections looming. The Supreme Court in 2024 unanimously rejected an initial bid by anti-abortion groups and doctors to roll back FDA regulations that had eased access to mifepristone, ruling that these plaintiffs lacked the necessary legal standing to pursue the challenge.
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/louisiana-presses-us-supreme-court-halt-abortion-pill-mail-delivery-2026-05-07/
REFERENCES
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143659221
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143659592
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143660372
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143661204
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