A pharmaceutical company that manufactures and distributes the abortion pill Mifepristone asked the Supreme Court on Saturday to block a federal appeals court ruling prohibiting doctors from prescribing the medication through telehealth services or dispensing it through the mail.
Delaware-based Danco Laboratories, LLC, filed an emergency motion with the high court seeking an “immediate administrative stay” on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling while the court considers the appeal.
“The panel’s ruling injects immediate confusion and upheaval into highly time-sensitive medical decisions — and it forces Danco, [Food and Drug Administration] FDA, certified Mifeprex providers, patients, and pharmacies all to guess at what is allowed and what is not,” lawyers wrote in the filing.
A three-judge panel sided with Louisiana on Friday in a case against the Food and Drug Administration, issuing a temporary nationwide injunction that reinstates a 2021 requirement for the abortion pill to be prescribed and dispensed in person.
Mifepristone was approved by the FDA in 2000 and is one of two drugs commonly used in medication abortions. It has seen a surge in use since the landmark Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision in 2022 that overturned the constitutional right to abortion access and returned authority to the states.
The Supreme Court upheld access to the mifepristone in 2024, unanimously rejecting a challenge from anti-abortion doctors due to a lack of legal standing. The decision came about 18 months after the FDA, under former President Biden, permanently removed the in-person dispensing requirement.
Officials in Louisiana argued that the administration’s rules made it easier for abortion pills to be mailed to states where the procedure is mostly banned. The Pelican State has some of the strictest anti-abortion laws in the U.S. and has attempted to prosecute out-of-state doctors for providing abortion drugs via mail to in-state residents.
The appeals court found that Louisiana was likely to succeed in proving that it has suffered irreparable harm as a result of the FDA’s policy — a decision lawyers for Danco cast as “unprecedented” and “extremely disruptive.”
“The Fifth Circuit’s unprecedented order forces patients, providers, and pharmacies into immediate uncertainty, with no transition period and no practical guidance,” lawyers wrote in the May 2 filing, further arguing a stay would help avoid “regulatory whiplash” on the issue.
Democratic lawmakers similarly criticized the ruling, arguing it disregards decades of clinical research and could significantly restrict nationwide access to reproductive care.
“The Fifth Circuit just told millions of women that three judges know better than the FDA, their doctors, and 25 years of evidence. They don’t,” Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) wrote on social media. “I have no intention of letting this stand.”
https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/5860830-supreme-court-appeal-mifepristone-ruling/
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