US EditionUS court blocks mail-order access to abortion drugs, for now
The ruling could curb telehealth abortion access nationwide, and judges said the policy likely leads to nearly 1,000 illegal abortions a month in Louisiana.
- On Friday, May 1, 2026, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a temporary stay blocking the Food and Drug Administration's 2023 policy permitting mail-order mifepristone, reinstating nationwide in-person dispensing requirements while Louisiana's legal challenge proceeds.
- Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill sued the FDA, arguing the 2023 rule undermined state abortion bans and caused the state $92,000 in Medicaid costs for emergency care from out-of-state mifepristone complications.
- Circuit Judge Stuart Kyle Duncan wrote that the policy "facilitates nearly 1,000 illegal abortions in Louisiana per month," while the panel ruled federal regulations created an end-run around the state's prohibition where medication now accounts for two-thirds of U.S. abortions.
- Julia Kaye, an American Civil Liberties Union lawyer, warned the ruling will "affect patients' access to abortion and miscarriage care in every state," while Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America celebrated it as a "huge victory" against the "mail-order abortion drug regime."
- Legal experts anticipate a likely appeal to the Supreme Court, while providers prepare contingency plans including efforts to offer alternative misoprostol-only regimens to patients who can no longer access mifepristone via telehealth.
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352 Articles
Federal Court Blocks Mailing of Abortion Pill Mifepristone. Here’s What To Know
In this photo illustration, packages of Mifepristone tablets are displayed at a family planning clinic on April 13, 2023 in Rockville, Maryland —Anna Moneymaker—Getty ImagesA federal appeals court on Friday banned the mailing of the popular prescription abortion drug mifepristone, dealing a major blow to reproductive rights across the United States. The Fifth Circuit's unanimous ruling temporarily reinstated an in-person dispensing requiremen…
Prescribing medications such as Mifepriston with subsequent delivery by post is one of the most important ways of abortion in the United States. Now, a court in Louisiana puts a bar on the method.
An American court of appeal temporarily suspended the possibility of sending the mifepristone by post on Friday, May 1. Used in the majority of abortions, this medicine has become an essential lever to circumvent local prohibitions since the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in 2022.
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