The US Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that the abortion pill mifepristone can continue to be accessed by mail, blocking restrictions imposed by a lower court while litigation proceeds. The order, issued without explanation, will remain in effect until the justices decide whether to hear the case.

Two manufacturers of mifepristone had asked the Supreme Court to intervene after an appeals court reinstated a requirement that the pill be obtained in person. The ruling is part of the court's emergency docket and prevents the limitations from taking effect for now.

Abortion pills are the most common method of terminating pregnancies in the US, especially in states where abortion is banned. The court's most conservative justices, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, dissented from the decision.

In 2023, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) allowed doctors to prescribe mifepristone via telemedicine and send it by mail. Louisiana sued the FDA last October, arguing that nationwide mail delivery interfered with the state's abortion ban. An appeals court earlier this month temporarily reinstated in-person dispensing requirements.

Thomas wrote in his dissent that mailing mifepristone is illegal in Louisiana and that manufacturers are not entitled to block a court order based on lost profits from their 'criminal enterprise.' Mifepristone is the first of a two-pill regimen recommended by the FDA to end a pregnancy.

The availability of the drug was expanded in 2021 during the Covid-19 pandemic, and the FDA made the mail-order option permanent in 2023. In 2022, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, ending the constitutional right to abortion and allowing states to ban the procedure. More than 20 states have since restricted or banned abortion.

Source: www.bbc.com