Reproductive Equity Now Statement After Supreme Court Temporarily Restores Telehealth Mifepristone Access
The Court’s order imposes a pause on the 5th Circuit ruling until at least May 11
Boston (May 4, 2026) – Today, the United States Supreme Court issued an order temporarily restoring access to mifepristone, the first drug used in a common two-drug medication abortion regimen, via the mail and retail pharmacy. The order, issued by Justice Samuel Alito, the justice who manages emergency requests regarding the Fifth Circuit, imposes a temporary pause on a U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruling from Friday night that reinstated medically unnecessary restrictions on mifepristone, until at least May 11. Justice Alito ordered Louisiana to respond by Thursday at 5 p.m. From there, the full U.S. Supreme Court will determine how to proceed.
“We are relieved that the Supreme Court has stepped in to block the Fifth Circuit’s dangerous decision and allow telehealth access to mifepristone to continue—for now. But let’s be clear: the whiplash of these rulings—where access to essential health care is turned on and off overnight—is deeply confusing, destabilizing, and dangerous for patients and providers alike, which is precisely the anti-abortion movement’s goal,” said Claire Teylouni and Taylor St. Germain, Interim Co-Executive Directors for Reproductive Equity Now.
“We cannot rely on the courts to protect our health care—and especially not the U.S. Supreme Court. The same judicial system that dismantled abortion rights in Dobbs continues to put access to essential health care in jeopardy. Right now, states must act with urgency to strengthen and clarify their laws to ensure providers are protected, and patients can access care without fear or confusion.
“Abortion care is essential, critical health care,” Teylouni and St. Germain continued. “Mifepristone is safe and effective. Access to this care should not be dictated by shifting court decisions—and we will continue fighting until access is guaranteed for everyone, everywhere.”
On Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled in Louisiana et al. v. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to reimpose medically unnecessary in-person dispensing requirements on mifepristone, the first drug used in the common two-drug regimen for medication abortion. This decision had limited telemedicine abortion by prohibiting the mailing or retail pharmacy dispensing of mifepristone, and is a part of the anti-abortion movement’s larger agenda to ban abortion nationwide.
More than half of abortions are provided through telehealth care, which tees up this decision to have a devastating impact on the national access landscape.
Mifepristone has a well-documented record of safety and efficacy, and has been used more than 5 million times in the United States to end pregnancy since it was approved in 2000. Research shows that medication abortion using telehealth is just as safe as in-person abortion care.
Misoprostol can be used alone to safely and legally end pregnancy, though it typically involves a different side-effect profile.
###
