{"id":28090,"date":"2026-05-03T11:33:25","date_gmt":"2026-05-03T11:33:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/?p=28090"},"modified":"2026-05-03T11:33:25","modified_gmt":"2026-05-03T11:33:25","slug":"us-court-blocks-mail-order-access-to-abortion-drugs-for-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/?p=28090","title":{"rendered":"US Court Blocks Mail-Order Access to Abortion Drugs, for Now"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Reading Time:<\/span> 3<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

A U.S. appeals court on Friday temporarily blocked a federal rule allowing the abortion drug mifepristone to be dispensed through the mail, significantly curtailing access to the drug nationwide and particularly in states that have banned abortion.\n<\/p>\n

Connect with others in your state in prayer.<\/h4>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

A three-judge panel of the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled unanimously that the state of Louisiana was likely to prevail in its challenge to the 2023 rule adopted by Democrat former President Joe Biden\u2019s administration.\n<\/p>\n

While the ruling is temporary, it is the first to significantly curtail access to\u00a0mifepristone\u00a0in a series of lawsuits challenging the drug\u2019s initial approval in 2000 and subsequent rules making it easier to obtain. The 2023 Food and Drug Administration regulation removed a requirement that\u00a0mifepristone\u00a0be dispensed in person.\n<\/p>\n

The FDA and the office of Louisiana\u2019s Republican Attorney General, Liz Murrill, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.\n<\/p>\n

SERIES OF LEGAL BATTLES\n<\/p>\n

Restricting access to\u00a0mifepristone, including through telehealth appointments with out-of-state providers, has been a top priority for Republican-led states that have banned abortion.\n<\/p>\n

Nearly half of states have banned or severely restricted abortion \u2060since the Supreme Court\u2019s Dobbs v. Jackson Women\u2019s Health Organization ruling in 2022. That has driven a surge in medication abortion, which has spurred a series of legal battles over access to the drugs.\n<\/p>\n

Medication abortion is a two-drug regimen consisting of\u00a0mifepristone, which is used in about 60% of U.S. abortions, followed by misoprostol, used to terminate a pregnancy within the first 10 weeks.\n<\/p>\n

In states where abortion is legal and doctors are permitted to prescribe drugs via telehealth, fewer than 2% of prescriptions for abortion drugs are filled in person, according to research from the University of Southern California.\n<\/p>\n

Louisiana sued the FDA last year, claiming the agency in adopting the 2023 rule \u200bhad ignored the risks of serious adverse events posed by\u00a0mifepristone, including sepsis and hemorrhaging.\n<\/p>\n

The Biden administration had maintained that\u00a0mifepristone\u00a0is effective and safe, citing studies that showed major adverse events occurring in fewer than 1% of patients.\n<\/p>\n

Drug companies GenBioPro and Danco Laboratories have intervened in Louisiana\u2019s lawsuit to defend the FDA regulation. The brand-name version of\u00a0mifepristone, Mifeprex, is Danco\u2019s only product, and GenBioPro derives most of its revenue from the \u200bgeneric version, the companies said in court filings.\n<\/p>\n

The companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment.\n<\/p>\n

\u2018PROGRESSIVE RELAXATION\u2019\n<\/p>\n

U.S. District Judge David Joseph in an April 7 decision had paused Louisiana\u2019s lawsuit pending a review by President Donald Trump\u2019s administration of the safety of\u00a0mifepristone, which, according to media reports, has been delayed until after the November midterm elections.\n<\/p>\n

The judge denied Louisiana\u2019s request to block the 2023 rule but agreed with the state that it was likely unlawful, indicating he would rule that way when the case resumes.\n<\/p>\n

Louisiana had asked the 5th Circuit to pause that ruling and block the rule while the state pursues an appeal, which could take months to resolve.\n<\/p>\n

On Friday, the 5th Circuit agreed with Louisiana that the FDA had failed to justify eliminating the in-person dispensing requirement.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThe agency\u2019s progressive relaxation of\u00a0mifepristone\u2019s guardrails likely lacked a basis in data and scientific literature,\u201d Circuit Judge Stuart Kyle Duncan, a Trump appointee, wrote for the court.\n<\/p>\n

Five other Republican-led states are pursuing two separate lawsuits over FDA abortion drug regulations, including the initial approval 26 years ago. The Trump administration has moved to pause both cases pending its review of the drug.\n<\/p>\n

Louisiana and Texas \u200bhave also sued \u2060or indicted healthcare providers from other states for prescribing\u00a0mifepristone\u00a0to their residents, testing so-called shield laws in states including New York and California that protect providers against out-of-state investigations and prosecutions.\n<\/p>\n

Pray for life to be protected\u2014and share this article to mobilize others to intercede for truth in our courts!<\/h4>\n

This article was originally published at The Daily Signal. Photo Credit: photobyphotoboy via Canva Teams.<\/em>
\n \n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reading Time: 3 minutes A U.S. appeals court on Friday temporarily blocked a federal rule allowing the abortion drug mifepristone to be dispensed through the mail, significantly curtailing access to the drug nationwide and particularly in states that have banned abortion. Connect with others in your state in prayer. \u00a0 A three-judge panel of the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15233,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[205,5117,1781,316,1494,9289],"class_list":{"0":"post-28090","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-prayer","8":"tag-abortion","9":"tag-access","10":"tag-blocks","11":"tag-court","12":"tag-drugs","13":"tag-mailorder"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28090","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28090"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28090\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15233"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}