What to know about the ruling blocking the mailing of abortion pill mifepristone

Key Points:

• A federal appeals court in New Orleans has blocked the mailing of mifepristone prescriptions, requiring the drug to be distributed only in person at clinics, marking a significant restriction on medication abortion access since Roe v. Wade was overturned.
• The ruling by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, expected to be appealed to the Supreme Court, affects all states and overrules FDA regulations that allowed telehealth prescriptions and mailing of the abortion pill.
• Louisiana's Attorney General sued the FDA, arguing that federal regulations undermined state abortion bans, and the court sided with this view, despite FDA's ongoing safety review of mifepristone.
• Mifepristone, approved in 2000 as safe and effective, is commonly used with misoprostol for early abortion, with telehealth prescriptions accounting for about one-quarter of U.S. abortions; the ruling targets this mode of access.
• The decision could influence the 2024 midterm elections by making abortion access a prominent issue, with abortion-rights advocates criticizing the ruling as contrary to science and public opinion, while anti-abortion groups celebrate it as a victory.