The Supreme Court on Monday briefly extended access by mail to the abortion pill mifepristone.

Justice Samuel Alito extended the administrative stay of a Fifth Circuit Court ruling in the case Louisiana v. FDA until Thursday. With the stay in place, mifepristone will remain accessible by mail for now.

Last week, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals handed down a decision temporarily banning the mailing of mifepristone and requiring that the abortion pill be distributed only in person and at clinics. The Supreme Court issued a stay on the ruling three days later, restoring access last week.

The ongoing limbo of the federal case has destabilized already patchwork access to abortion care. Abortion pills by mail ― a combination of mifepristone and another drug misoprostol ― account for nearly two-thirds of all abortions in the U.S. No matter what happens to mifepristone, telehealth abortion providers will still be able to send abortion pills by mail using a misoprostol-only method, a safe and effective, evidence-based protocol widely used around the world.

“No one should have to wait on the edge of their seat to find out what their rights are from day to day ― and yet that’s what this does for people across this country,” Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood, said in a statement. “With today’s order, we’re back to playing the waiting game until Thursday evening.”

The state of Louisiana filed a lawsuit against the Food and Drug Administration in 2025, claiming the department’s regulations around access to mifepristone ― also known as REMS ― is interfering with the state’s near-total abortion ban. Using abortion shield laws, providers in pro-choice states are still able to mail mifepristone to patients living in states where abortion is banned.

Louisiana v. FDA is very similar to FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, in which a group of anti-abortion groups sued the FDA because they claimed the agency overlooked safety issues when it loosened the drug’s REMS protocols during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Supreme Court unanimously rejected the plaintiffs in 2024.

The timeline in the AHM case is nearly identical to what is happening now. In 2023, the Fifth Circuit Court temporarily halted access to mifepristone only for the Supreme Court to grant an administrative stay. Days later, the high court extended the pause two more days, at which point the court fully granted the stay and picked up the case to be heard next session.

If conservative activists are successful in banning mifepristone by mail, pro-choice experts agree, it would be a significant step toward a national abortion ban. There are several ongoing attacks against mifepristone, including an FDA review of the drug despite a decades-long track record of being widely and safely used by millions.

If you or anyone you know needs assistance self-managing a miscarriage or abortion, please call the Miscarriage and Abortion Hotline at (833) 246-2632 for confidential medical support or the Repro Legal Helpline at (844) 868-2812 for confidential legal information and advice.

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